Captured
by Embyr7
Summary: Gallagher and Blackthorne never merged. What happens when Zach and Cammie are put together on a mission to save their best friends' lives? Will their love for each other cloud their judgment to do what's best for the success of the mission? ZAMMIE
1. Just Bring Her Back

Could my life GET any more boring? I graduated Gallagher Academy, thinking that the moment I was handed my diploma, whoosh! My life would be exciting and I would go on missions and go to places I've never been before and have some danger in my life.

But no.

I, Cameron Morgan, the top spy ever to graduate from my school, was stuck behind a desk.

Doing paperwork.

Alone.

Fun life I have, huh?

I mean, okay, this might be a regular thing for some of you guys, but for a spy? For a spy this was torture. For a spy this is the worst thing that they could be doing. I would rather be diffusing a bomb in a blizzard. At least then I would have some excitement in my life.

And then, as if someone was reading my thoughts, I heard my name over the intercom. I quickly shoved the file I was reading away from me and stood up. I was dressed in business-like attire, a white ruffled blouse tucked into a skirt with a blazer and heels. My hair was in a bun, with some curled strands framing my face. I had on minimal make-up-just eyeliner and mascara.

I arrived at the boss's door and knocked.

"Come in!" He bellowed. The boss was a nice man. It was a good thing.

"Hello," I smiled.

"Cammie, Cammie! Come in, come in. Your partner should be arriving shortly. Mint?" He slid a bowl of mints across the table.

"No, thank you."

"Knock, knock." A deep voice said from outside. Guess I forgot to close the door.

"Come on in, Zach. Your partner's already here."

And if we were in a movie, time would have slowed down right then. I would have turned around in my chair, the strands around my face fluttering in the air a little. My face would be a mixture of curiosity and awe, because of how gorgeous the man standing before me was. I would blink and cock my head to the side and smile sweetly. The orchestra would be playing and-

Okay, what was that? Stop with your fantasies, Cammie. You're a spy, not an actor.

And instead of blushing and letting 'Zach' know what I was thinking of, I smiled.

"I'm Cammie."

"Zach." He smirked. His emerald green eyes seeming to glow. He was wearing dress pants and a dress shirt, which was not tucked in and the top buttons were unbuttoned. He had brown hair that wasn't too short but wasn't too long, perfect to run your fingers through. He had a pronounced jaw line and a bit of stubble. He sat down across from me.

**ZPOV  
><strong>Holy mother of lord. The girl sitting in front of me was...perfect. She was beautiful. She had honey-brown hair, which seemed to be pretty long because the bun it was wrapped in was thick. She had curled the ones framing her face, the honey-brown causing her bright blue eyes to pop out against her evenly tanned face. She had the sweetest smile-I almost melted when she introduced herself. But, being the spy I am, smirked and said, "Zach."

I sat down across from her.

"Good," the director said. "Now that you two have officially met, I have a mission for you."

No shit.

"Mr. Goode, you are close friends with Mr. Newman, am I correct?"  
>"Yes, Grant and I have been friends since we were little."<p>

"And Ms. Morgan, you are close friends with Ms. Baxter?"

"Bex has been my best friend forever."

"Yes, well. They were put on a mission together about a month ago-did they tell you about that?" We both nodded.

"They..." The director took a deep breath and sighed. "They have been captured."

My heart skipped a beat. What? I glanced at Cammie and saw that she had tears in her eyes. I know we just met, but I wanted to pull her into my lap and comfort her. She had an air of innocence around her, and even though she was a spy, I wanted to protect her.

"So you two will be put on a mission together and you will get them back." the Director continued. He handed us our covers.

"You are not going to be acting like anybody, just be yourself. But while infiltrating the COC headquarters where Mr. Newman and Ms. Baxter are being held, wear masks. We think that they are in California." We nodded.

"Get some rest, you two. Your flight is tomorrow morning."

**TOMORROW MORNING**

**CPOV**

I woke up to a pounding on my door.

"CAMMIEEEEEEE!" It screeched. Ugh. Macey.

"WHATT?" I screeched back.

"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR BEFORE I BREAK IT DOWN!"

"YOU'RE SCARING THE NEIGHBORS!" I shouted back, not wanting to get up from my warm bed. It didn't matter if my door was kicked down-I wasn't going to be here in a few hours anyway.

A loud pounding noise was heard, and then my door fell down with a loud thud. Macey walked over it and literally pulled me out of bed.

"Come on, come on! Did you even pack yet? Zachary Goode is one fine fellow, Cam. You can't just go flouncing around in your baggy sweatshirts and ducky pajama pants."

"Well, that's all I have!" I whined.

"Nope! I shopped for you. Only then did I notice the load of shopping bags Cammie had set down next to my bed.

"What did you do, buy the whole mall?" I joked.

"No. Only half." Macey looked me in the eye, her expression dead serious. After quite a long stare-down, we burst into hysterics. Once we were down laughing, Macey rushed to my closet and pulled out a suitcase and started packing. I couldn't see it much, (the girl was an extreme packer.) but I could see bras, thongs, booty shorts, push-up bras, t-shirts, dresses, jeans, cardigans, make-up, jewelry, lotion, perfume, scarves, hats, shoes, and more. Maybe she did buy half the mall...

"Knock knock?" Lizzie stepped over the door, mimicking what Zach had said the other day.

"Hey, Liz! Come on in. Mace was just about done packing." I eyed Macey, who was scanning the list she had brought, which was two and a half pages long. Yea.

Liz came and sat by me, watching Macey pack. I glanced at the clock. 11:46. I had to be at the airport by 12:00.

"Crap! I have to be there in fourteen minutes." I jumped up. Macey threw me a pair of clothes, and instructed Liz to turn on the straightening iron. I sprinted to the bathroom and put on what Macey chucked at me. A bra, panties, black skinny jeans, brown high-heeled combat boots, a flowy black off-the-shoulder striped shirt, and to add a dash of color, a flowery infinity scarf. I raced out of the bathroom. 11:48. Woah. New record.

Macey plopped me down in a chair and expertly applied foundation, mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow, and lip tint while Liz quickly straightened my already-straight hair. It fell to the small of my back. Then Macey spritzed me with Japanese Cherry Blossom body mist from Bath and Body Works.

"There. Now you smell good." Macey smirked.

I rolled my eyes.

11:55.

"Where's Zach? He was supposed to pick me up..." I thought aloud. "CRAP. HE DOESN'T KNOW MY APARTMENT NUMBER." I grabbed my suitcase and was about to sprint out the door and into the open elevator, but when I stepped onto my door I paused and looked back. Macey and Liz were holding hands, smiling at me reassuringly. I rushed over and hugged them.

"Just bring her back, okay, Cam?" Liz whispered.

"I promise." I whispered back.

"I love you!" I said to both of them.

"Call us!" Macey made a phone signal with her hand up to her ear and smiled.

"Will do!"

"Go get some!" Macey winked. Liz and I laughed.

I left my friends and stepped into the elevator, descending into the mission that could save my best friend's life.


	2. Mint

**Thank you to the...two people who reviewed! XD And everyone who alerted and favorited me, too. It means a lot.[: On with the story!**

_I left my friends and stepped into the elevator, descending into the mission that could save my best friend's life. _

The elevator doors opened with a ding, and there stood a frantic Zach, hand running through his silky brown hair, eyes worried. He turned around when the elevator opened, eyes hopeful.

"Cammie! You're late!" He sprinted up and grabbed my suitcases from me, and just ran out the door.

"Good afternoon to you too!" I laughed, running out the door to catch up with him. He was tossing my suitcase in the trunk, and opened the door for me. I slid in and Zach told the driver to take us to the airport.

"California here we come!" I punched the air.

Zach rolled his eyes.

"You are such a dork." He snorted.

"Hey. Don't act like you aren't a dork either."

"I'm not."

"Oh-kayy." The rest of the ride was ridden in a comfortable silence, both of us looking out the window of our home-town for the last time in a very long time.

"Have a nice honeymoon!" The driver shouted, driving away from the airport. We stared after him, mouths agape, eyes wide.

"Well, you know what couples do on their honeymoons..?" Zach looked at me teasingly, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Shut up!" I shoved him, and rolled my suitcase inside, all the while, being graceful little me, tripping over it.

I stood up and looked at him. "That did not happen."

But Zach, unfortunately, saw it. He practically peed his pants laughing at me. This was going to be a very long mission.

**IN THE AIRPLANE**

"It's cold," I grumbled.

"Well, I'm not going to give you my jacket," Zach teased.

"I wasn't asking for your jacket," I grouched. Sorry, okay? It reminded me of the time I was with Josh. Yes, I know, I know, it's been like, two years. Get over it. But he was my first-and so far only-love. I pulled my legs up to my chest and closed my eyes, trying to sleep. Right before I arrived in dreamland, I felt something drape over my shoulders.

I woke up with my head on Zach's shoulders, and he was asleep, his head on top of my head. Great. How was I supposed to get out? Erm..just inch away slowly? I tried that. He groaned and slung his arm over me.

Great. That just made if worse. Something fell to the floor. I looked down with my eyes. His..jacket? Oh yea..he draped it over me before I fell asleep. Maybe he does have a sweet side. I smiled. I quickly but smoothly slid my head out from under his but caught his head with my shoulders, so his head stayed in the same position. He didn't wake up. I picked the jacket up with my feet and caught it with my hands. I saw his arm had goosebumps, so I tried to throw it back over his shoulders. Heh. I missed. Some spy I am.

A flight attendant walked by just as I was awkwardly straining with my feet to get the jacket off the ground, but it was like, 10 feet away. She laughed and picked it up for me.

"Thank you," I blushed. I then gently threw it over Zach's shoulders and looked away.

**ZPOV**

"I'm cold," Cammie whined.

"Well, I'm not giving you my jacket," I teased her.

"I wasn't asking for your jacket," She snapped. Oh-kay then. Must have hit a sensitive spot there. I'll find out about that later. She pulled her legs up to her chest and curled up into a tiny ball, and closed her eyes. She looked so cute-like a child. Right before she fell asleep, I slipped my jacket off and draped it around her shoulders. Her goosebumps went away.

How does she sleep like that? It looks extremely uncomfortable. I gently pulled her legs down and leaned her head on my shoulder. Pretty soon, my head fell on top of hers and the last thing I smelled was the scent of her coconut-scented hair before I fell asleep.

I woke up to Cammie awkwardly sliding her head out from under mine and catch my head with her shoulder. I almost laughed – but I pretended to stay asleep. Then I saw my jacket on the floor. She kicked it up with her feet-and after about four tries she caught it. I bit my lip, trying not to laugh at her determination. Then she tried to throw it over me. She missed. It took all the willpower I had not to crack up. What a graceful spy she was. The flight attendant picked it up for her and she blushed.

Awh, she looked so cute. Wait, what? Zach, you are a spy. You're not allowed to have feelings. All that will do is put them in danger. I felt my jacket get draped over my shoulders and I pretended to wake up.

**CPOV**

Zach woke up once I tossed the jacket over his shoulders.

"Sorry," I whispered. "Did I wake you up?"

"No, it's cool." Zach smirked. Once we landed, we walked out, and were blasted with the California heat.

"MOTHER OF LORD, IT'S HOT." I shouted. A couple overheard and laughed.

"Home, sweet home." they smiled.

We got our luggage and got to the hotel. We got the keys.

"Enjoy your honeymoon!" The desk clerk called after us.

"Why does everyone think we're on our honeymoon!" I exclaimed.

"Maybe 'cause we make a cute couple," Zach smirked. We opened the room door-and it was perfect! There was a mini kitchen with a stove and a sink, a king sized bed, a beautiful little balcony that overlooked the sparkling ocean, a TV, a couch, a fridge, a closet, two bathrooms, and some chairs.

We hung our clothes up and ate Cup Noodle while watching TV.

"Let's go swimming." Zach got up and pulled a pair of swimming shorts from the closet.

"Alright." I tossed my Cup Noodle and went to my suitcase. I remember Macey told me she packed me eight bathing suits. Where are they..? Oh, found them!

I pulled the first one out. It was black, and barely covered anything.  
>"Okay, not that one.." I tossed it on the floor next to me.<p>

The other ones followed suit-they were the same thing, except different colors.

"I dunno, I kind of like those," Zach winked. I rolled my eyes. I seem to be doing that a lot around him. I finally found one that wasn't..._too_ revealing. It was a mint color, and it was a two-piece bikini. On the sides of my hips was a string of grey beads holding it together that I had to tie into bows. Same with the top piece behind my neck and back. I just left my hair down-I liked looking at my hair floating around in the water-it made me feel like a mermaid.

We went down to the beach and talked about our favorite things: Color, food, store, drink.

Mine was coral, garlic bread, Forever21, and Dr. Pepper.

Zach's was grey, curly fries, didn't have a favorite store, and Dr. Pepper. We got to the beach and went to the water.

"It's cold! I always thought California beach water would be warm," I said.

"Me, too." He agreed. "But you know what would make it warm really quick?" He looked at me.

"What?" I caught on too late. He picked me up and flung me in.

"ZACH!" I screamed. Under the water, I looked at my hair, just like I said. It floated around my face in wisps. Then, I got an idea. I surface the water, making sure to splash a lot.

"ZACH, I CAN'T.." Go under. Go back up. "SWIM!" I shrieked. I went under again, and swam away as fast as I could. I heard a splash and looked behind me, he had went under the surface and was looking for me. He surfaced, probably trying to see if I was lying and was floating on my back. I swam around peoples' legs, trying to hide from him.

**ZPOV**

"ZACH I CAN'T.." Cammie's face went under water. She bobbed back up. "SWIM!" She finished. Then she went underwater. CRAP! I quickly went in and gritted my teeth against the cold, and squinted my eyes from the salt. Where was she? Was she dead? Well, dead bodies float, don't they? Or was that just live bodies? Whatever! I went back up, trying to look for her long hair. Where is she? I went back under and saw a mint colored bathing suit through peoples' legs. I swam towards it, but then it was gone. Then I saw her hair about 6 feet away to the left. I swam as fast as I could towards it, and caught her ankle. A stream of bubbles escape from her mouth as she let out her air in shock. She went back up and, after catching her breathe, started laughing. Really hard.

"Cammie! You scared the hell out of me!" I screamed at her. My heart was still pumping-from all the swimming and the fright she gave me. She stopped laughing and widened her eyes once she realized that I got seriously scared.

"Well then you shouldn't have thrown me in." She stuck her tongue out at me.

"That doesn't give you the right to pretend to drown!" I ranted. "I seriously thought you were going to die or something."

She looked up. "Sorry," she whispered.

I looked down at her for a second, and then sighed.

"Me too." I gave her a hug. "Let's go back up." We ran back to the hotel-the hot sand burning our feet. It was around 6:00 now **(let's pretend that they changed time-zones and stuff..so it's 6:00p.m.)** We took our showers (good thing there were two bathrooms) and ate dinner. Pretty soon it was 10:00. I walked out of the bathroom after brushing my teeth to see Zach setting up pillows and blankets on the couch.

"Whatcha doing?" I asked.

"I'm not going to sleep on the floor, Cam." I saw him roll his eyes, even though his head was turned. It was in his voice.

"Zach, you can sleep with me on the bed, you know. I know you're not going to try anything," I gave him a look. "And we practically slept together on the plane."

And with that, I hopped under the covers and snuggled in.

"Good night." I said.

I heard him stand there awkwardly for a moment, probably wondering whether to go to the bed like I said or just stay on the couch. He flipped the lights off and climbed into bed with me. We both knew the other was awake, our backs towards each other. Well, this isn't awkward at all.

I turned around to face him, and he did the same.

"I really am sorry about today." I told him. Through the darkness I could see the bright green of his eyes. He could probably see the blue in mine.

"I forgive you." He said.

"We're going to get them back. We're going to get Bex and Grant back. Right?"

I knew that he couldn't answer this question. I knew that there was no definite answer yet. But I need reassurance. And that was exactly what he gave me.

"We are. I can see it. We're going to get them out, all four of us alive, all four of us uninjured, and we'll go back home and live happily ever after." He smirked at the ending. I smiled.

"Good night for reals this time." I said.

"Get some rest, Cammie." I turned back around and fell asleep, snuggled under the warm covers.

It was peaceful. The balcony door was open, and I could hear the waves crashing onto the shore.

I dreamed of getting Bex and Grant back alive.


	3. Transparent Doors

**Thank you to HappyGirl, Raksha Souza, and percabethfanlover for reviewing! ^_^ Especially HappyGirl-she reviewed twice. Hehee. And to everyone who favorited/alerted!**

**Disclaimer: I own just the plot of this story.]': **

**CPOV**

"Cammie. Wake up!" Zach shook me violently.

I crinkled my nose at him and flipped over.

"Come on!" He pulled me off the bed. I landed on my face. Oooow..! That hurt! Whatever. I'm tired.

"CAM, I'M DYING! SOMEONE SHOT ME IN THE LEG AND I'M BLEEDING TO DEATH!" Zach said desperately. I almost shot awake, until I realized he was joking. I snorted and turned around, facing the crack under the bed.

"Spiders," Zach whispered. I squealed and jumped up. He rolled his eyes.

"So you care more about spiders than me bleeding to death?"

"Yep." I smiled.

He rolled his eyes. "Go get ready. Today we're going to go spy on the COC. Dress in all black."

He was dressed in a black cotton T-shirt, black jeans and black Vans.

He winked and walked out. "I'm getting breakfast!" He called back.

I walked over to my suitcase and pulled out black skinny jeans, a black tank top that criss-crosses in the back, leaving some of my tan back bare. I got black Converse and beach-waved my hair, pulling it into a high ponytail. I even put on black nail polish and eyeliner and mascara. I _was_ doing the whole black thing here. I got a leather jacket and stuffed it into my bag, and skipped down to join Zach for breakfast.

He got me a plate full of eggs, bacon, toast and sausages and an orange juice. How did he know I didn't like coffee? Whatever.

He stirred his coffee and looked up as I slid into the seat across from him. He smirked.

"Takin' the black a little overboard, eh, Gallagher Girl?"

"How did you know I was..? You know what? Nevermind." I smiled sarcastically at him and bit into my toast. I finished up and we went outside. I was about to flag a taxi until he took my hand and dragged me down the sidewalk.

"Are we walking there?" I stared up at him, dumbfounded. He looked at me for a second and laughed.  
>"Really? You're a spy and you're too lazy to walk?"<p>

"No, not that!" I blushed. "Just that I never thought that any building that COC meetings are held in would be in some like, I don't know, ghost town where nobody could overhear or something."

"Cliche, much?"

"Yea.."

And, surprisingly, we got there in about five minutes. I hesitated at the door, but Zach just pulled me confidently into the door. The building was disguised as a very successful business building.

The man at the desk looked up and, even more surprisingly, smiled at Zach.

"Welcome back, Mr. Goode." Zach just looked at the man and half-smirked.

I looked at the man, then at Zach, then back at the man.

"Are you...?" I pulled my hand away, suddenly afraid.

"Cammie..let's talk about this back at the room, okay? Let's just find out where Bex and Grant are and go." He said quietly.

I just nodded and followed him up a couple flights of stands. We didn't hold hands anymore.

Zach got to a plain part of the wall and knocked four times, and then touched two certain spots. And the wall fell away. It was like the secret passageways at Gallagher Academy again! I stepped in and was surprised that it was clean-no cobwebs or spiders or anything. Even though I explored secret passageways back at the academy, it doesn't mean I got used to spiders. If anything, it just made me even more afraid of them.

We turned left, Zach was walking behind me, his hand on my elbow, leading me. I was still wary. I mean, what did he have to do with the COC? Was he really with them so much that the..employees knew his name? We turned a couple more times and got to a transparent piece of wall. Zach crouched and slid it up, and we were in a hollow little hole-room thing. We stepped inside and he shut the transparent door and we stood there awkwardly for a second. We were face-to-face, or face to neck. He was taller than me. We had no room to sit or anything-we were just pressed together in this little room.

"So? What is this?" I raised my eyebrows and looked up at him.

"Just shush. Once they start talking, the vibrations of their voices will carry down into this tunnel, you can call it, and we'll be able to hear everything clear as a bell. It works better than bugs. We're right underneath their table."

"So, the British girl and the muscular boy. What do we do with them?" The voice rang into our little room clearly, echoing around us eerily.

"I say we kill them. What use are we to them if they know nothing about the Chameleon?"

My head snapped up, my ponytail swinging side-to-side, whipping the walls. The Chameleon? They were captured because of _me_? Zach looked down at me, concerned.

"Okay?" He whispered.

"Yea. Perfectly okay." I said distantly.

I shut up, because they started talking again.

They talked about the fate of our best friends for about another thirty minutes, until a woman's voice rang out.

"Shut up. Everyone, shut up. We'll kill them. If they have no information, fine. They die. This meeting is closed."

At the sound of the woman's voice, Zach's body went rigid. My body went rigid at the words that she said. But it seemed that Zach didn't listen to the words she said.

"Let's go." I pulled up the door and got to where we were. Zach placed eight of his fingers in certain spots, and the places on the wall around his fingers glowed for a second. We stepped out. Unfortunately, we were both too distracted-him with the woman's voice and me with the fate of Grant and Bex-to see that the people from the meeting were still coming out of the room, piling into the hall. The moment they saw us step out, a woman with familiar green eyes and blonde hair pointed at me.

"Get her. _Get her!_" She screeched, her command so loud her voice went hoarse. The lady did not seem to notice Zach yet. His eyes went wide, looking at me and back to the woman's finger.

"Go. Go!" He shoved me down the hall, urging me to run. A mob of people ran after us, and I looked back. Bad move. I saw one man hot on my heels, and I let out a little shriek. He grabbed my ponytail and yanked me back.

"OW." I turned around in his grasp and caught his wrist, squeezing as hard as I could so he would let go. After he did, I flipped my hair back-it fell out of its ponytail-and flipped him over my head. He fell to the ground with an oomph. On my right, I saw Zach didn't run away and abandon me, and that made my heart flutter a little. He was fighting a man and a woman. He'll manage. I hope. I didn't have time to help him because the green-eyed woman pulled out a gun and pointed it at me. It got dead silent. So there we were, standing in the hall, sunlight streaming through the tall windows, a beautiful blonde woman pointing a gun at me, and Zach standing there with his arms locked behind his back.

"Move, and I'll shoot." The woman sneered.

"Mom." Zach's head was low, his damp hair covering his eyes, casting a shadow on his face.

"Mom?" I heard my voice croak out. "She's your _mom_?"

But he ignored me. "Don't shoot her, Mommy."

**ZPOV**

My mother was pointing a gun at the girl I..love. I love Cammie Morgan. I love her smile, the way she laughs, the way she doesn't swoon every time I smirk like every other girl on the planet. So I decided to play the cute 'I'm still your little boy' card. I hate this woman.

"Don't shoot her, Mommy." I said in the saddest, most innocent voice I had.

She just laughed. "Oh, Zachary has a love, does he? All the more reason to shoot."

One thing came out of my sad little boy act. The woman holding my hands behind my back loosened her grip a little, and my mother was too wrapped up in taunting Cammie to pay attention to me anymore. I suddenly whirled around and kicked her in the stomach as hard as I could. And, before anyone would react, I turned around again and punched a pressure point in my mom's arm, forcing her to drop the gun. I took it and stood protectively in front of Cammie, holding the gun towards anyone who moved. I wrapped my arm back , keeping her body firmly pressed onto mine, making sure if anyone had a gun they had no way of shooting her without shooting me.

"Move, and I will shoot." I glared. We made it out of the building, and I stuck the gun in my pocket, grabbed Cammie's hand, and ran, knowing they wouldn't follow. We ran all the way into the escalator, into our room, and collapsed on the floor. After a few minutes of catching our breath, we sat up.

I was about to make small talk, but Cam meant business.

"That woman was your _mother_? You're on their side? Why don't you just shoot me now, huh? Go on. The gun's in your pocket, in case you forgot." She held her arms up in mock-surrender.

**CPOV**

Zach's eyes widened, and then he got this look on his face. This look that told me to _back off_, and not talk to him for a little while. This look that told me that he was livid, furious.

"Seriously? You seriously think I'm going to _shoot_ you, Cammie?" He took the gun out of his pocket and flung it at the wall. I flinched.

"Just because my mother is the leader of the COC doesn't mean I'm part of them. I hate them. I have _nothing_ to do with them." He glared at me, and I could see his jaw clenching and unclenching.

His sentence made me think back to when we were back at Gallagher Academy, and Tina always asked me for the latest school gossip about my mum, and I would get so angry at her when she didn't believe me when I told her I didn't know anything, even though my mum was the school's headmistress. But that was exactly what I judged Zach on. I thought just because Zach's mom was the leader of the COC, that he was bad too.

Then I realized her was standing there staring at me, his eyebrows raised.

"I-I'm sorry." I stuttered, wringing my hands. "It's just that.."

"It's just that what, Cammie?" He came over and stood by me, forcing me to look into his eyes.

"It's just that I was scared." I sobbed. My hands started shaking and I slapped the back of my hand to my quivering lips and took deep breaths, tears pouring down my cheeks.

Zach leaned down and pulled me into him, letting me cry into his shirt.

"You were scared that I was going to hurt you?"

"I was scared that you were going to lead me to your mom, and let them take me away." I whispered.

He looked confused. "Why would I take you to my mom?"  
>My whole body was shaking now, memories of all of the attacks and attempted kidnappings from the COC flooding back into my mind. He took my hands, urging me to answer.<p>

I looked up, my wet eyelashes sticking together.

"Because I'm the Chameleon."

**Review, please? :D **


	4. I Love You

"Because I'm the Chameleon."

CPOV

I looked up at him hesitantly, wondering how he'd take my words.

He let out a nervous chuckle. "Cammie. That's not funny. The Chameleon is on  
>the top of the most wanted list in the COC. If you really are the Chameleon,<br>you should be on, I don't know, lock-down or something. I thought since no  
>one knows who the Chameleon is, he must be in a safe house."<br>I rolled my eyes. "Well if you were being hunted since you were 15, you  
>wouldn't want to have been in a safe house since then, huh? I'd rather live<br>and have fun with risks than live with no risks and die of boredom instead."  
>"But he's a boy. His name is Cameron."<br>I raised my eyebrows.  
>"Umm…hello? My name is Cameron! I'm the Chameleon! What more proof do you<br>need?"  
>Zach hesitated, wondering whether to believe me or not. Tears pooled in my<br>eyes. I felt like a small child telling a lie to a grownup who just won't  
>believe you.<br>"Fine. If you don't believe me, then that's your loss. I don't give a crap." Iturned around and stomped out the door. I heard Zach ask me to wait, and that he believed me, but I know he didn't. I ignored him and ran down the stairs,too aggravated to wait for the elevator. I walked along the beach. No one was  
>there since it was raining. It was about 7 P.M. The sun was setting. My tears blended in with the rain.<br>I know what you're thinking: Why are you crying? Drama queen much?  
>But I can't help it, okay? After being hunted down from the COC for so long,<br>it was practically a natural part of my life. I am even starting to fall in love with the COC's leader's son, and then him not even trusting you? I sniffled and pulled out my phone and dialed Macey. I needed a friend.  
>"Can't talk right now. Leave a message." Came her blunt answering machine. I<br>sighed and dialed Liz.  
>"Hey! I'm busy right now, so leave a message and I'll call you back!" Her<br>cute voice chirped back at me. I screamed and shoved the phone into my pocket. For half a second I had considered calling Bex – until I remembered that I was on a mission to get her back. And she was captured all because of me.  
>"Yeah, Cammie, that really lightened your mood, didn't it?" I choked out.<br>"And now I'm talking to myself. Great." I muttered. I was shaking violently from  
>both the cold and my sobs. I walked into the beach water until it was up to<br>mywaist and I enjoyed the feeling of the current moving around my legs.  
>I stood there for who knows how long. The rain started pouring down so hard I<br>couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. Then I saw a blinding flash of  
>lightning and a crack of thunder.<br>"CAMMIE." Zach suddenly walked up to me and pulled me backwards towards the sand. "What the hell are you doing? Are you an idiot? Do you want to get hypothermia and die? Oh my god."  
>I was just standing there in front of him feeling like an idiot, shivering<br>violently. He sighed and scooped me up.  
>"One day, you're going to be in big trouble. And I'm not going to be there to<br>help you. And then where will you be?" He muttered.  
>"In my grave, I guess." I said dryly.<br>"Not funny, Cammie." He glared.  
>"Wasn't trying to be." I glared back.<br>We got up to our room and I looked at my hands. They were pale. A little too pale. He noticed and sat me down on my bed, then helped my peel off my shirt and jeans and shoes. He got me some of his long pajama pants, since Macey only packed me stupid pajama shorts, and one of my over-sized T-shirts. He got me a bra and underwear and turned around so I could change into those. It was hard-my  
>hands were shaking so much it took me five tries to undo the clasp. And then I<br>stood up to try and slip my undies off it took all the power I had to not slip  
>and fall to the ground. I sat back down with a sigh once those were changed,<br>and I weakly put the pants on and tightened the strings so it would fit around  
>my waist. I pulled the T-shirt over my head and fell back down onto the bed,<br>gasping. He finished changing, too, and came into bed with me.  
>"You know the best way to keep warm?" Zach smirked. "And since we're in a<br>bed…" He rolled on top of me and winked.  
>I rolled my eyes, and tried to laugh, but gave out a little cough instead.<br>"You're funny." I rasped out.  
>He got off of me and rolled to the side, his eyes worried. He took my shaking<br>pale hands in his and massaged them, trying to get them warm again. We were  
>silent for a few minutes.<br>"Cam?"  
>"Mmm?"<br>"I believe you." He looked at me, green meeting blue.  
>"What? Why?" I asked, surprised. He took his right hand off of mine, and a<br>rush of cold air came to it. He pulled out a charm bracelet from his pocket, and I reached out and took it.  
>It was a charm bracelet that had all of our code names on it: Chameleon,<br>Peacock, Bookworm, and Duchess. Macey must have slipped it in my bag while she was packing for me. I smiled and motioned for him to help me put it on. He did, and I wiggled my wrist back and forth to make the charms clack.  
>"I didn't even know I had this," I said softly. I looked up.<br>"Thank you."  
>He widened his eyes, bewildered. It took me a moment to concentrate for a moment-his face was so innocent and cute when he did that. I just hope he didn't notice me admiring his face, or else it would become his puppy-dog face and he would get anything he wanted from me.<br>"For what?"  
>"Well, for starters, believing me. And then for coming to get me from the rain. I don't know what I was doing." I shook my head.<br>"I'll always believe you, Cammie. And I'll always be there for you. Really."  
>He said, pulling me into his chest. I wrapped my arms around his neck and smiled."Cam?" He whispered. "I love you."<br>I looked up at him, shocked. I smiled the widest smile I could. "I love you too." I said.  
>He tilted his head down, and our lips met for the very first time.<p> 


	5. One Four Three

_He tilted his head down, and our lips met for the very first time. _

**ZPOV**

I felt Cam smile into the kiss, and I deepened it, rolling on top of her. She played with the hairs at the nape of my neck. Once we started to run out of air, I pulled back and looked at her. She grinned, but then let out a little cough.

"Let's sleep. You're tired." I whispered. I rolled onto my side and wrapped my arm around her stomach, and our fingers wrapped together. I fell asleep to her steady breathing.

I woke up, but I kept my eyes closed. My internal clock was telling me it was still early, 8:23 in the morning. I was still holding Cam's hand-we were in the exact same position as the one we fell asleep in. She was giving off a lot of body heat. I cracked my eyes open and saw she was sweating.  
>Uh oh. I sat up and gently placed the hand that wasn't holding hers on her forehead. She was burning!<p>

"Cam? Cammie, wake up." I shook her.

"Mmm." she groaned and let go of my hand, curling up into a ball. "I don't feel good." She whispered like a little kid. I sighed and got up, phoning the front desk to bring some medicine, cough drops and an ice pack. I sat back down and tucked Cammie in-she was shivering.

"Your fault for running into that rain yesterday." I muttered. She tried to glare at me. She sniffled, and for a while I just sat there on the edge of the bed, rubbing her back while she sniffled and coughed her guts up. The medicine arrived, and I shook two pills from the bottle, and got a glass of water.

"You have to sit up for a minute, Cam, to drink your medicine." I said.

"No." She mumbled.

"Well you wanna choke and die? No. You don't. Come on." I slid the blanket from her body a little. She immediately started trembling violently. I quickly helped her sit up and tucked her back in.

"I think I'm gonna barf." She whispered, gagging slightly. My eyes widened.

"Oh. Um, okay. Just-just wait a minute, okay?" I sprinted to the bathroom, and while I was in there looking for a bucket I could hear her coughing and breathing heavily. There was a convenient little bucket under the sink, and I grabbed it and put it on the drawer.

"Barf in there, okay?" She nodded. I placed the water and pills in her hand, but when she lifted the glass she spilled a little since her hand was shaking so much. I helped her get some water into her mouth, and she placed the pills on her tongue, and she swallowed. She drank a little more water and placed the glass down. I made her some food, but she refused to eat any of it.

Even after doing my puppy dog face, she just looked away and pushed the plate away from her.

It was about two o' clock in the afternoon now, and I was sitting next to her reading. She had an intense headache, but she couldn't fall asleep, so she was sitting there pouting. I looked up from my book.

"I'm really sorry." She said miserably. I blinked at her.

"For what?"

"This is totally delaying the mission. I was so stupid, running out in the rain like that. I'm sorry."

I tossed the book on the floor and wrapped my arm around her shoulder.

"It's not your fault you got sick. It's my fault for being such an idiot and not believing you." She was already shaking her head, and was about to say something until our door crashed open. She jumped, and I got up from the bed, silently grabbing napotine patches and stuffing them in my pocket. I hid behind a wall until four figures in black jumped out, all of them going to the bed where Cammie was laying, wrapped up in her blanket, half asleep.

I lunged, and immediately tackled one of them. The other three were stunned, thinking that she was the only one in the room. I got off the one I tackled and kicked their jaw, causing them to roll over and groan. They got up and tried to punch my stomach, but I grabbed their arm and flipped them over my shoulder. I put three patches on him, just to make sure he wouldn't wake up. One of them was already lifting Cam up, so I went for him. I balanced on one foot and slammed the other foot as hard as I could into the back of his head, and I caught Cammie and placed her back on the bed. She was currently unconscious, because they had put a napotine patch on her forehead. I quickly peeled it off. I don't think that would help her get better from her sickness. I whirled around and put four patches on the one I kicked on the head, adding Cam's semi-used one. The other two had fled, and I stood their catching my breath. I called the CIA number, and a couple of guys came and disposed of the two men I had knocked out.

Cammie didn't wake up for another hour, but about halfway through her sleep she started panting really hard. I was in the shower, but thank god for spy training. I quickly got out and pulled on jeans, and threw the towel I was using to dry my hair over my shoulder. She had woken up and her hand was halfway to the bucket, hesitating. She was probably wondering if she was going to throw up or not.

I don't think those pills were working. I checked her forehead again, and she was even hotter than she was in the morning.

"I think you need to go to the hospital." I muttered.

"NO!" She said loudly. "No. I hate hospitals. I don't need to." She muttered.

"Cameron," I muttered.

"Zachary," She glared back. "I'm good. See?" She weakly attempted to get off the bed and stand up, but why watch her do it when you know she's going to fall on her face? I caught her and carried her down to the lobby, and then outside. She was complaining the whole way, and she even started to fake-cry, saying she was scared of hospitals. When the first tear fell down her cheek, my heart melted and I almost put her down, until she told me she was afraid, which was when her pupils dilated, telling me she was lying. I had just rolled my eyes and kept walking. Then she said she needed to throw up, but, again, her pupils dilated.

I got a taxi, and lay her down on the backseat. She just curled up into a ball, only taking up two seats, so I sat on the right seat next to the window.

"Take us to the hospital, please." I told the driver. He looked alarmed. "My girlfriend is extremely sick, and the medicine did not help her." I explained.

He nodded and quickly drove us to the hospital. I carried her inside, and the lady at the front desk paled, thinking Cam was dead. She was quite pale, but I told her my girlfriend had an extremely high fever, and that the pills did not help.

"Oh, my." she said. "Well, let him," she motioned to one of the doctors, "take her, dear. I'm afraid you can't be in the same room until she's better. You may wait in here, if you would like."

I gingerly handed Cam over to the doctor, and he placed her on one of those rolling bed things. Right before the doors they disappeared through slammed shut, I saw her flash her fingers: One, four, three.

I love you.

**Review? Please? D:**


	6. Hair Ties

**I'm back![: Okay. I'll reply to the reviews now. If you didn't review last chapter you can just skip all of the bold parts. **

**I only got three. D: But ya know what? It's ohk. Ahaha.**

**AsianSpy: It's okay. A review is a review, ya know? Thank you. **

**Goode Foreva: Thank you! :D My cousin and I do that to each other-the one four three thing. **

**Krazykid500: You're great!^_^ Thank you for reviewing, love!**

_Right before the doors they disappeared through slammed shut, I saw her flash her fingers: One, four, three._

_I love you._

**Zach's POV**

I smiled. Even though we've never done that before, I knew exactly what it meant.

I sat around in the waiting room for hours. I think I even fell asleep once or twice. I wouldn't admit it, but I was worried. Extremely worried. I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. I had dark circles under my eyes, and my hair was messy. I splashed some cool water on my face and gripped the sides of the sink tightly, taking deep breaths.

"Hey, man. You okay?" A guy a little shorter than me said. He was washing his hands in the sink next to me, and he had brown eyes. He looked sympathetic.

"Yea. My girlfriend's really sick. I'm just worried about her." I replied. My voice was rough and dry. Ugh. I need water.

"My fiance was diagnosed with cancer a year ago." His face turned solemn. "She's on life-support right now. I don't know if she'll..."

Even though I'm a guy, and I'm supposed to be big and tough, I could feel my heart break a little. If Cam was that close to death...well, let's just say I wouldn't be as put together as this guy was.

"I'm...I'm sorry for you." I said.

"Yea. I seem strong on the outside, right?" He laughed darkly. "What I really wanna do is curl up in that dark corner there and cry. But we gotta be strong for our girls, ya know?"

I chuckled. "I know what you mean. Well," I looked at him. "I sincerely hope your fiance gets better. You guys will grow up and get married and have a wonderful life together."

Woah. Where did that come from?

Cam was making me soft.

He laughed. "Thanks. I hope your girlfriend gets better soon. I'm Thomas, by the way."

"Zach." And with that, I left and went to the little cafeteria. I bought an overpriced bottle of water and went back to the waiting room. I downed it all in ten seconds. I tossed the bottle in the trash can and sat down.

"Zachary Goode?" A nurse called, squinting at her clip board.

"Yes?" I stood up.

She looked up and smiled at me. "Your friend's all better. You can come see her now. We gave her some medication, though, so she might be sleeping."

I breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thanks."

"She's in room 304."

I went to the elevator and practically sprinted to her room. She came in and she was half-asleep. She smiled.

"Finally." She said sarcastically. "I was waiting for you."

I smirked. "I knew you couldn't resist this hot body." I came down and sat on the chair next to her bedside.

"Don't be a jerk when I'm all..blehh." She mumbled. I chuckled.

"Go to sleep now."

And that's exactly what she did.

A few days later, Cammie was healthy enough to come back to the hotel. We both desperately needed a shower, and I let her go first. She came out in a baggy t-shirt and sweats, her wet wavy hair tied up in a messy bun. When she opened the door to the bathroom, rolls of steam came out with her, and I smelled the scent of her shampoo.

"Your turn." She said, tossing her dirty clothes into a hamper. I showered, and we sat down on the floor. It was around two o' clock in the afternoon, and it was a Wednesday.

"We have to come up with an idea on how we're going to find Bex and Grant." She stated the obvious.

"Oh, really Gallagher Girl? I thought we were making a game-plan on what to have for dinner." I rolled my eyes.

"I was just_ saying_." She laughed.

So we thought.

And thought.

And thought.

And the time ticked by. It was four o' clock now, and suddenly Cammie popped up from the spot she was sitting on the floor.

"I remember!" She shrieked.

"What?" I asked, looking up at her.

"Back at Gallagher, my friends and I made a plan. If any of us ever went missing-well, here. Let me start from the beginning. When we were seniors, my genius friend Liz made us these special hair-ties. See? This one here." She shoved her wrist in my face.

"Well, if you stretch it out like this," She took it off her wrist and stretched it out. "It'll open." The black elastic parted and a button popped up. "If we press the button, it'll send signals to a little device we hid in one of Gallagher's secret passageways. We could communicate through morse code with the button. I totally forgot about this!" She squealed.

"Well, it's in Gallagher's secret passageway. How are we going to get it?" I asked.

"I'll tell Macey to ship it over here. If we get the device, there's a button on that, too. We send messages through that button and the hair tie will start vibrating. She'll know that we found the device, so she can tell us where she is!"

I smirked. "Great. So call your friend Macey and have her ship it over."

She grabbed her phone.

"Hey, Mace?"

I heard squealing on the other end.

"Yea, I miss you too! Lizzie, also. You remember those hair ties that Liz made back in 12th grade? Yea. Go get the device and send it over here. Yes, use fast shipping! Bex is about to die and you wanna save money buy using the regular shipping..?" Cammie mumbled.

I snorted.

"Okay. Great." Cammie told them the address of our hotel and out room number. Her friend hung up and Cammie sighed, content.

"I'll be here tomorrow." She said.


	7. Rain

**Hi guys![: Sorry I haven't updated in like. Forever! But I had stomach flu and it was Christmas and then New Year's and...BLEH. Yea. XD**

**AsianSpy: Awh, it's okay. It's enough that you reviewed. [: Thank you!**

**zoehumi: I love you! :'D I'm glad you have faith in this story..and in ME. Ahaha. You're the sweetest thing. Thank you **

**tiffanyba: Thanks! Me and my cousins do the 1-4-3 thing, so yea. ^_^ AHAH thank you! I was like, "Uhmm. Geez. How are they gonna find Bex and Grant...?" And then I tied back my hair into a bun, 'cause that's how I think. I have a thinkin' bun. Don't judge. And I was like, HAIR TIES! And..yea. XD**

**code .chameleon: Ahahah my parents are ALL about like, saving money, so whenever they're sending one of my relatives in like, Texas a birthday gift, it's like, CLICK HERE to get fast-shipping, it'll arrive in 1 day! 10 dollars more! Or CLICK HERE to get regular shipping, it'll arrive in a week! And I'm like, "Mom. Get fast-shipping. Their birthday's tomorrow." And she's like, "Are you kidding? Ten bucks is a lot of money! We've gotta save!" I'm just like ….**

**Yea. You definitely needed to know that. XD Thanks for reviewing-wubb youss. **

**ColorfulEyes: You reviewed on chapter 1, but yea. AHAHA awwh, really? Thank you so much! :D**

**cocky-gurl: Me too! :O It's like, amazing! I like Paris Amour, too. ^_^**

**Samie Goode: Is Samie your real name? It's cute![: And I'm updating right now! Aheheh. **

**Krazykid500: Thank you! As I said up there ^^ the hairtie thing just popped into my mind randomly..ahaha. **

**Brittany: First off thank you so much.^_^ And second of all, it's only been 13 days, uhkay? X[ And all of my readers put me on alert/favorite, so they get an email notification whenever I update. I don't think they keep track of how long I take to update and then take me off of their alert list if I don't update soon. XD **

**ANYWAY. Sorry about all of the review reply thingies, guys. If you don't review, don't read it. Unless you like to..then that's cool too. But if you review, I reply. 'Cause..I dunno. It juts feels right to me. ^_^ OHK ON WITH THE STORY. I DON'T OWN GALLAGHER GIRLS BLEHBLEH.**

_"It'll be here tomorrow." She said._

**Macey's POV**

How in the _hell_ did Cammie enjoy it in this little dark _cave? _One of my heels got stuck in a crack and snapped off.

"SHIT!" I screamed. I huffed and snapped the other one off, too. Now I have cute sandals on, I guess. Where did we hide the device..? I know it was somewhere in here. None of the Gallagher Girls now know about these secret passageways. I know it's kind of selfish of me, but I don't want them to know about them, either. The passageways were Cammie's place-I know she wouldn't want a weird kid to be wandering around in them. But the problem?  
>There were spiderwebs <em>everyw<em>here_. _

I finally found the device hiding in a little corner and snuck out of the academy walls, not wanting anyone to see me, getting ready to ship it.

"Fastest shipping you have, please." I told the person.

**Zach's POV**

I woke up, and to the sound of clapping thunder. Rain was pouring down so hard it sounded like bullets were pelting the roof. I looked out the balcony door, and the sea, which was usually blue and calm, was grey, the waves roaring. Suddenly, something tickled my face. I looked down and saw that I was practically laying on top of Cammie-good thing she was still sleeping or she would probably sock my stomach. And let me tell you something: Never. Ever mess with Cammie in the morning before she's had her coffee.

My arm was around her waist, and her honey-brown hair was framed around her face. I was on my side, leaning on my left arm. A blinding blue light made me close my eyes, and the loudest thunder I have ever heard practically shook the building. Since when did California have storms like this? Isn't it supposed to be hot all the time? Cammie moaned and flipped onto her stomach, trying to block out the light. I chuckled and pulled my arm away.

The second I did it, Cammie shivered and pulled the blanket up around her body.

"It's raining." She grumbled. I rolled my eyes.

"_No." _I replied sarcastically. She flipped back onto her back and glared at me with her perfect blue eyes.

"No need to be harsh." She pouted. I smirked and kissed her pink lips. A knock at our door had us jump guiltily apart, as if our parents were out there or something.

Well, my mom wouldn't care if she saw me kissing Cammie. She would probably just use Cammie and capture her as bait for me to come back to the Circle, or something.

Oh wait.

She's already planning on getting Cammie, so there's no need to hide anything now. I sighed and sat up, running a hand through my messy brown hair. Cammie had hopped off the bed to go answer the door. She screamed. I practically flipped out of bed to go punch whoever was hurting her in the face.

But turns out it was a scream of excitement. I took a shaky breath.

"Cam, you scared me. I thought you died, or something." I took her hand and led her back inside, shutting the door.

"Sorry." She didn't look sorry. She bit her lip and smiled, looking up at me. She held up the box. "We're one step closer to finishing this mission and getting our best friends back!" Suddenly, my heart dropped a little. I mean, yea. I missed Grant. He was like a brother to me. But..what would happen to me and Cammie's relationship after this mission was over?

**Cammie's POV**

"We're one step closer to finishing this mission and getting our best friends back!" I exclaimed. But then, I looked away sadly. Would Zach still love me after this mission? Would we still keep in touch? I don't even know where he lives! I looked up and saw Zach looking at the ground sadly.

"After this mission-" we both started at the same time and looked at each other.

"You can go." We both said in unison, again. I chuckled and he smirked.

"Well.." I started. "I was just..you love me, right?" I blurted. And then blushed and looked at my feet, which were shuffling nervously. I held the package in my hands. I knew this was delaying the mission, but..I know it was cruel of me to say, because if I were in Bex's shoes, I would be telling myself to hurry the _bloody hell_ up. But I wanted to stay with Zach and go on dates and...

"Of course I love you." His eyebrows were creased, and he stepped forward, holding my hand. "You're are the one thing in the world I'm _sure_ I love."

His words made my heart flutter happily. "But after this mission-are we going to still see each other?" I frowned. He frowned, too.

"I'm not sure. If we live far away..I'll move, for you. It's not like I like anybody at work or have friends or anything." He smirked. I rolled my eyes. I'm sure he had lots of friends at work-his personality was like a magnet. Everybody practically hovered around him, probably wishing he would walk to them and send them his smirk.

"I doubt that. But..thank you." I smiled widely. He reluctantly smiled down on me, too. A smile! I know, I know! I wanted to sprint for my phone and take a picture.

Why don't you, Cammie?

"Stay! Don't move your face muscles!" I shrieked, trampling to the closet, dropping the forgotten package. I whipped out my phone and stumbled back, tripping over a shoe and landing on my ass. I heard him laugh. I quickly got back up, at the time unfazed, and took a picture of his face.

I looked at it and smiled. "Open the package." I kicked it over to him, and he got scissors to cut open the tape. In the picture, his lips were a little mushed together, holding back a chuckle. His bright green eyes were twinkling, and his hair was all messy from sleep, just like I liked it. His skin was tan and he looked completely, utterly..happy.

How could _he_ possibly want _me_? I stepped forward a little and looked at myself in the mirror. My blue eyes were dull, not a bright blue that would be pretty. I had pale skin and almost-unnoticeable freckles across the bridge of my nose and cheeks. I had long light brown hair, which was limp and hung uselessly to the small of my back. I wasn't tall, short, skinny, muscle-y, I was just...normal.

Whereas he was tall, had amazing abs, a handsome face, gorgeous eyes, cute messy hair, an annoying but loveable smirk, and...

I sighed and set the picture to pop up every time he would call or text me. I put my phone on the counter and sat down. Zach got the device out and was fiddling with it.

It was in the shape of a box, and was pretty heavy. It was made out of metal and made beeping noises every once in a while, and a red light was blinking on it. I took it and set it on my lap, and he sat next to me. We were on the floor leaning against the bed.

I gulped and quickly tapped out, _Bex._

Five minutes passed. Nothing. Then ten minutes. Then fifteen, then twenty. I started at the device miserably. This was our only, and probably last clue to find out where they were! I wanted to grab the device, chuck it against a wall and cry.

If I wasn't a spy, I probably would have. The teenage girl inside of my wanted to. But I knew that wouldn't get us anywhere, and Zach would be furious. I sighed and looked up at him.

"She's not responding." I whispered.

"Are you sure it works..?" He frowned.

"Yes! We tried it out many times, and..Liz put in her batteries that last forever. I don't see what the problem is, other than she's dead, or passed out, or-" Suddenly, the device started beeping and shaking violently. I gasped and looked down. There, on the tiny little screen, said, '_Cammie?'_

_BEX! Oh, my god. Yes, it's Cammie. Where are you?_ I tapped out as fast as I could, my fingers shaking.

_Finally! Thank god Lizzie made this or I don't know what I would've done.._ She replied.

_Yea, yea. Where are you, Bex?_ I sent back, impatient.

_I'm not sure. Somewhere in California?_ She tapped back. I rolled my eyes.

_No shit, Sherlock. Zach and I are in a hotel room in California right now. We've got that part. Do you know which city?_ It took a while for her to reply.

_I don't know. Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo-somewhere around there? Please hurry, Cam. My partner, Grant..he's bad. They're torturing us everyday. I don't know how much longer.._ she stopped tapping after that.

_Bex?_

No response. Oh, my god. What if she was getting tortured right now?

"Zach!" I shrieked.

"Cam, I'm sitting right next to you."

"Oh. Go get dressed! They're somewhere in Laguna Niguel. Hurry!" I screamed, running to the closet. "That's an hour away!" He moaned.

"Suck it up, buttercup! Go call and get a rental car!" I shouted. He grabbed my phone and a directory, grumbling something along the lines of, 'I'm not a buttercup..I don't resemble anything close to butter or a cup.'

I threw on a white long-sleeved flowy shirt, a grey infinity scarf with gold stitching, black leggings, combat boots, and a black leather jacket.

What? It was comfortable, cute, and it's good clothes for rain. I knew my hair seriously did not look attractive in the rain, so I tied it back in a french braid, leaving some wisps to hang around my face. I grabbed a long bag and stuffed in knives, napotine patches, two guns, extra socks, (what? It was raining.) clothes for Bex and Grant (I grabbed one of Zach's jeans and shirts.), and four water bottles. Zach was done calling for the car, saying something about how it's downstairs and waiting for us. He changed into simple jeans and a T-shirt, doing nothing to his hair.

We went to the elevator, and I kept on tapping my boot on the floor, making a loud clacking noise. Zach came behind me and lifted me into the air a bit, so my foot was just jiggling in the air.

"Stop that." He whispered into my ear, and I could feel his warm breath tickle my neck. I blushed and said nothing, but kept jiggling my foot. He set me down when the elevator opened, and we walked through the lobby in a hurry. I saw strangers send us strange looks.

Once we were in the car, I realized I left the device in the hotel room.

"Crap!" I screamed.

"What? What is it?" Zach looked alarmed.

"I forgot the device! I'll be right back!" I shouted. I opened the door and ran the two feet in the rain back to the hotel. I got into the lobby and I pressed the elevator impatiently. It was only the 13th floor! I sighed and sprinted to the stairs, and took them three at a time. By the time we were on our floor, my legs were aching. I turned the knob and pushed. It was locked.

I forgot the key! And it wasn't a keyhole, it was the kind where you slide a card in.

"Oh, my god!" I screamed. A family in the hall looked at me strangely.

So I had to sprint back down the stairs. I know I was a spy and all, but I tripped over my feet a lot. Good thing no one took the stairs nowadays, so no one saw my stumble.

The people from the hotel made Zach move his car out of the way so that there would be room for more guests to get valet parking.

I found the car about 30 feet away, and I groaned. I pulled the hood of my jacket up and ran as fast as I could without slipping on my face. I pulled open the door and Zach looked at me wordlessly. He looked at my face, which was red and sweaty, and my mud-splattered boots.

He laughed. "Did you forget the key?"

"Yes." I glared and snatched it out of his hand. And I ran back. Back to the hotel, back to the stars, back up the stairs, back to my room. I slammed the door open and ran to get the device, which I left lying on the floor.

But there was one problem.

The room was completely torn apart.

And the device? It was gone. Suddenly, the door slammed closed. I whirled around and came face-to-face with about eight Circle members. They were dressed in all black. Greatt.

I saw the device in a bag, which was also stuffed full of me and Zach's stuff. We stared at each other for a moment, and I lunged for the bag, hoping I could just quickly snatch it and then run back down to Zach, who was waiting for me. I left my phone in the bag, too, so I couldn't on-purpose butt dial him.

And yes. I know how to butt dial people. Don't ask.

But they grabbed me and flipped me onto my back. I kicked up, squaring one of them in the jaw, and flipped back up, my hood off of my head now. They groaned and spat out a curse, then punched me in the stomach. I grabbed his arm and pushed him into a table, leaving him with a shards of a flower pot in his arm. The other agents were circling me, and I looked for a way out, desperate.

I gulped, as I backed into a wall. I closed my eyes, pretending to give up. I put my hands up in surrender. I peeked through my eyelashes. They grinned at each other and pulled out a rope to tie me with.

_You wish_. I thought.

They were inches from my wrist when I quickly took the rope and whipped it in his face. Then I roundhouse kicked two of them in the jaw, and stuck napotine patches on the other two. The guy with the flower pot in his arm had yanked them out and made a bloody mess on the floor, but he was up and standing again. Two guys left. I grabbed the closest thing to me-which was Zach's deodorant, and chucked it as hard as I could at one of the guy's head.

And let me tell you-I throw pretty hard. One time I threw a shoe at the wall and I left a crack. And it was a tennis shoe. He got knocked down and I quickly stuck a napotine patch on him. Zach was probably extremely worried right about now.

But as I was bending down to stick napotine patches on the guy I knocked down with a shoe, the other one grabbed me by the neck and lifted me in the air, choking me.

I gasped for air like a fish-oh, yes. I'm sure my face was extremely attractive at that moment.

I'm sure I was turning red and blue, and my vision was getting blurry. The world was fading away, and I was getting extremely dizzy.

_What should I do? _I screamed in my mind. Suddenly, I remembered that you have a pressure point in-between your thumb and your pointer finger, which is where his hand was separated to grasp my neck. So I moved my jaw and chin around, trying to find it. He loosened his grip a little, confused.

I still couldn't breathe, but it made that much of a difference. I found it, and as much as it hurt, shoved my chin down on it _hard_. He immediately fell, limp to the ground. I stuck napotine patches on him, and another on everyone else, so that they wouldn't wake up.

I sat there and leaned my head against a wall breathing deeply, nauseous, surrounded by unconscious men. It smelled like sweat and blood in here. It's a good thing I didn't eat yet or I would probably barf. My throat was scratchy and dry, and it hurt like hell. My lungs were burning and tears were spilling out of my eyes. I grabbed the bag of their stuff and hurriedly rushed down the hall to the car. People looked at me oddly, because I was crying.

Hey. I was almost choked to death, okay? It's a scary experience. Also, the lack of oxygen made tears squeeze out of my eyes.

I was jogging back to the car, head down, protecting the device from the rain inside of my jacket, when I ran into something warm and familiar. I looked up at Zach, who had worry etched onto his face.

I breathed a sigh of relief and practically collapsed, and he caught me. He brought me back to the car and sat me down in the passenger side, and got into the driver's seat. He already had the navigation system routed to Laguna Niguel.

"What _happened_?" He demanded at a stoplight, after making me drink some water. I was still breathing deeply, and I had shed off my soaking jacket.

"There were Circle agents in the room." I said quietly.

He glared at the street, his hands grasping the steering wheel tightly.

**Hey! This is the longest chapter I have ever, ever written in the history of my fanfictions. So..be a good child and review? :D Please! It would make my day. **

**I wonder if people actually read these author note things. ...If you're reading this, review, and add your favorite color! XD **


	8. Careless and Stupid

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_"There were Circle agents in the room." I said quietly._

_He glared at the street, his hands grasping the steering wheel tightly._

**Cammie's POV**

"Are you okay?" He choked out. The light turned green and his foot stomped on the pedal, and I could hear cars honking around us.

"Yea. The cleaning lady might have a heart attack, though." I joked. His lips didn't even twitch.

"I can't believe I was so _stupid." _He ranted. "You were gone for like, what? Twenty-five minutes? I thought you just went to the bathroom or something, but.. UGH I can not believe this."

"Believe what?"

"I can't believe that I wasn't there to protect you! Now you've got bruises around your neck and cuts everywhere, and I just..don't like seeing you in pain." His eyebrows were scrunched up, and his knuckles were white. I couldn't help but smile. Even though every part of my body ached, I just wanted to jump up and down and squeal.

"I don't need protecting, Zach. I'm a big girl. You've got to remember that I'm a spy too." I reasoned.

"It's instinct to protect someone you love." Zach said, his eyes unfocused. He said it as if he were reciting it from somewhere-a memory, maybe. The car was quiet for the rest of the time.

After an hour, we reached a sign that said, "Welcome to Laguna Niguel."

"We're here!" I announced. During the trip here, I went through the bag of stuff I stole from the Circle agents, and I found a picture of me, a picture of Zach, some of our clothes, a couple napotine patches, a gun, the device used to communicate with Bex, and three cell phones. I looked through the phones, but none of them had contacts or anything. I set the device in my lap as Zach parked the car in the parking lot for a beach.

Bex? Are you there? I tapped out.

I waited a couple minutes, and still no answer. Zach looked at me sympathetically.  
>"We'll get them back." He said. I sighed and got out of the car.<p>

"So how do you think we should start looking?" I asked.

"Hmm. Grant always said that if he got captured and he knew he wouldn't make it through the fight, he would stay conscious long enough to make a trail somehow." Zach stated.

I blinked, absorbing the new information.

"Hm. Okay..so let's look for the trail."

We walked around aimlessly for one and a half hours. We had wandered away from the beach and we were in a park with a lot of trees surrounding it, with a jogging trail.

"This is going nowhere." I huffed, throwing myself onto a bench. He sat down on the bench and pulled me into his lap. He was sitting with his back against the backrest and I was sitting side-ways, so that my feet were on the other side of his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck and sighed, nuzzling my face into his shirt. He wrapped his arms around me, and I shivered, his warm skin heating up my cold body.

"We need to find them." I mumbled.

"I know. We'll get them back." He reassured.

"I'm just scared that we'll be too late," I said, looking up at him. He pressed his palm against my cheek and brushed some hair away with his other hand.

"Me too." He admitted. Suddenly his eyes flashed in recognition and he quickly but gently set me onto the bench. He walked over to a tree and stroked its trunk.

"Cammie." He turned back to me and smirked. "I think we found our trail."

I grinned, surprised and hopped off of the bench and walked over to the tree.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"See this slash in the tree? It's too straight and deep to just be another one of the tree winkles in the trunk." Zach pointed. I stepped closer and stared at the slash tentatively. He was right. Then Zach pointed to a bush.

"And see that bush? It's all flattened out, and some of its leaves and flowers are smushed to the ground. Like someone was dragged away over it." Again, he was right.

"So this much be where they were captured!" I exclaimed. He smirked.

"Nice of you to catch on, Gallagher Girl." I rolled my eyes and took his hand.

"Let's go." We walked into the woods, following the barely-there trail. The 'trail' we were following were smushed bushes, misplaced dirt, flipped rocks, anything out of the ordinary like that. Finally, we stopped at an opening at the forest. It was a hiking trail that led up a mountain-type of thing.

"Where would they have gone from here?" Zach ran a hand through his hair. I looked down. There was a piece of rubber laying in the middle of the trail. I walked over and picked it up.

"Zach! I think this is a piece of their tire. There aren't supposed to be cars on this trail, but they wouldn't have dragged Bex and Grant the whole way, right?"

"Hmm." He took the piece of rubber from me. "Nice job, Gallagher Girl. And I thought I was the better one on this mission." He teased.

"You wish!" I stuck my tongue out at him. We walked up the hiking trail, pretending to be a strolling couple, holding hands and teasing each other. But we could see through each others' covers. I saw Zach's eyes flick back and forth every time there was a strange noise, and I felt his hand tighten on mine when someone jogged past. We walked all the way up the trail until we reached the top of the hill. I still wasn't sure if it was an extremely large hill or a small mountain.

We saw a lot of cabins, and a tiny little booth where you could rent one to stay the night.

"Bex and Grant are probably in one of these cabins." Zach whispered.

I rolled my eyes. "Yea, I kinda figured."

I walked up to the booth and smiled at the lady. "Excuse me, ma'am. May I ask how many cabins there are in total?"

She looked at my strangely. "57, dear. Would you like to rent one?"

"Uhmm. Maybe later. My boyfriend and I are just going to look around for a bit." I bit my lip and turned back to Zach.

"There are _fifty-seven_. Do we really have to look through the windows of each cabin?" I exclaimed.

"Well what other choice do we have? Let's just get it over with."

And so we looked through every window of every cabin, the lady in the booth looking at us, a bewildered expression on her face. At the 37th cabin, every single window was blocked out by black paper.

"This one looks suspicious." I called back to Zach, who was still peering through the 36th cabin.

He jogged up and looked at the windows. He went through his pockets and pulled out a tiny little bug. He placed it on a window and then got out earphones-like the ones you attach to your iPod. He plugged it into the bug and gave one end to me. I stuck it in my ear, and suddenly I could hear everything that was happening inside. I heard a little fly buzzing around. A heavy man breathing.

We stayed like that, listening. From the sound of the breathing, there were at least ten different people in there. Suddenly, a whispy sound came up. Kind of like someone with thick, long hair lifting their head. Then a whisper.

"Grant." I almost screamed. It was Bex's voice. I grabbed Zach's arm the exact same time he made a move to grab mine. We looked at each other in pure shock and excitement, our eyes wide.

"We found them!" I whisper-shrieked. He nodded in agreement and made a motion that said, 'keep listening.'

I heard handcuffs being pulled at, and some grunts of frustration.

"I think all of the Circle members are sleeping. Let's go in now." Zach whispered. I nodded.

"On three. One," I counted.

"Two," He looked at me, his eyes telling me to be careful in there.

"Three." We said together. He opened the door, and we crept in. Bex looked up, and I saw her eyes brighten when she saw me. The boy next to her, who I assume is Grant, grinned when he saw Zach. Suddenly, a cold hunk of metal was being pressed against my temple. I closed my eyes in disbelief.

We were _so_ close. We would've just gotten Grant and Bex out while they were sleeping, lock the doors so they couldn't get out, call for some backup, and imprison the Circle members who were in there. But we were being too naïve. There was no way they would leave two of their prisoners unguarded.

We were careless and stupid, and look where that's got us.

With a gun pressed to my head.


	9. Flames

_We were careless and stupid, and look where that's got us._

_With a gun pressed to my head._

**CPOV**

"Move, and I'll shoot." The man growled. None of us moved, and I could feel everybody's eyes on me. I looked at Zach, and he looked back, his eyes sad and angry.

"Now, you. Go over there." The man pressing the gun to my head looked at Zach and motioned to the corner where Bex and Grant were.

"You told me not to move." Zach said calmly.

"Just go!" He screamed. I cringed. Zach walked slowly to the corner, keeping his eyes on my the whole time. I could see in his eyes that he was planning a way to get us all out, and I could tell Bex and Grant were too.

"You, too." He roughly pushed me to the corner, and Zach caught me when I stumbled.

"Cammie," Bex whispered. I looked at her and I saw in her eyes what she wanted to say: _I'm sorry._

I smiled softly and shrugged, sending a: _It'll be alright. _

I saw Zach and Grant exchanging messages through the eyes, too.

"Great. We have the target, the boss's son, and their two best friends. Let's go get the boss." One of the Circle agents said.

"Right." They were halfway out the door when one looked at us.

"What about them? What if they escape?" they said. The other rolled their eyes.

"You can't escape from here. The windows are locked, the doors are locked, there's no way out." And, with one last look at us, they all piled out of the door and I heard the lock click shut.

"Oh, my god." I collapsed against a wall, my heart still pounding.

"Are you okay?" Zach asked, walking up to me and taking my chin in his hand, examining my head. I blushed and pulled my face away.

"I'm fine."

"Cammie," Bex stood up and crushed me in a hug.

"Bex, I missed you so much," I hugged her tight.

"Me, too." She squeezed me, hard, probably hoping I wouldn't disappear. She pulled back and looked at Zach, raised her eyebrows, and then looked at me, smirking.

"He's hot." She whispered.

"I know." I whispered back. We laughed.

I saw Zach and Grant give each other a hug. Grant looked at me.

"Hi, I'm Grant." I found it amazing that even though he had been locked up in this cabin for who knows how long, and he still managed to introduce himself with his happy smile.

I smiled back happily and ignored his handshake, pulling him into a hug. He was stiff with surprise, but after a while he warmed up and hugged me back.

"I'm Cammie."

"I know." Grant laughed.

I saw Bex and Zach give each other an awkward hand-shake and smiled.

"Now. Let's look for a way out." Zach suggested.

"Hello? We're kind of...tied up here." Bex looked down at her hands.

"I've got it." I pulled Bex's hands out from her back, and as far apart as the handcuffs would let me. I lifted my leg and swiftly kicked it down on the chain, breaking it.

"That _hurt!_" Bex exclaimed, rubbing her wrists. I rubbed my foot.

"Yea, not just you Bex." I groaned. Zach did the same for Grant, and they frowned and rubbed their wrists and heels, too.

Zach and I were both walking with slight limps now. The Circle agents were right – there was no way out. Everything was locked, and we may be spies, but we weren't strong enough to break though the walls, or the thick wooden door. The windows were covered with a thick sheet of metal, and there was no way we were getting through that either.

"Shit. What're we gonna do? They're coming back soon!" I exclaimed, pacing. Bex and Grant were kicking on the walls, hoping someone would hear us. Zach took my hand and pulled me down to the floor with him, making me sit in his lap. He sighed and closed his eyes, resting his chin on my head, wrapping his arms around me.

I relaxed and leaned into him. "The only way to get out is once they come and they unlock the door." He mumbled into my hair. I closed my eyes and fiddled with his hands, entwining our fingers. Through my eyelashes, I saw Bex and Grant making hearts at us. I internally rolled my eyes.

"So the moment they unlock the door, we'll jump out at them, knock out as many as we can, and run away as fast as we can. Right?" Grant clarified.

"It seems like the only way. Let's position ourselves near the door." Bex said. Zach and I stood up and we stood near the door, hovering. We stared at the door, and minutes ticked by. Nothing happened.

"This is kind of awkward." Grant whispered. We laughed-because it totally was.

Hours ticked by, and after a while my eyelids started getting droopy.

"I don't think they're going to come back tonight." I yawned.

I saw Bex was rubbing her eyes sleepily. I felt bad for her and Grant-they probably haven't gotten a good sleep since they were captured.

"You should sleep." Grant said gently to us. "We can keep watch."

We were both too tired to protest, so I said, "Wake us up when you need to sleep." Bex and I each went to a dusty, lumpy couch and laid there.

It was silent and I felt like I was sleeping on a giant pile of dirt. It smelled weird, and I could tell dust was getting in my hair. But, after a while, tiredness overwhelmed me and I fell asleep.

_I was running. Running so fast that the trees were a green blur in the corner of my eyes. Running so hard that I could hardly breath. The flames surrounded me, and it felt like my lungs were being cooked. _

_I was screaming, screaming for my friends-anyone. _

_Why wouldn't anyone help me? _

_Suddenly, I tripped over something. I got up and looked at what my foot got caught on-and it was Bex's shirt. My eyes widened, and I rolled her over. Her eyes were glazed over, and she stared blankly into my eyes. _

"_Bex?" I screamed. She had no pulse. I clasped my hand over my mouth-one to hold back my sobs and two to try and filter some air through the thick smoke-and stood up and kept running. I had to stop and turn back dozens of times because of sudden flames that would appear in front of me. _

_Then I saw Grant running._

"_Grant!" I shouted. He looked back over at me, and relief flew onto his face. _

"_Cammie!" We ran towards each other, but suddenly a knife hit him in the back. I looked behind him to see a Circle agent disappearing into the flames, laughing. Grant had landed face-first onto the forest floor, and I kneeled beside his body. _

"_Oh, my god." I cried, tears pouring down my cheeks. I swallowed thickly and stood up, wiping my eyes. I needed to get out of here._

_I needed to get out of here and find Zach. _

"_Zach?" I called hesitantly. Considering the other two friends I found, I didn't want Zach to end up the same way. _

"_Cam!" I heard his voice to the left. I whipped around, and I saw him running towards me. _

"_Thank god." I cried, running into his arms. He hugged me tightly. _

_Suddenly, he was wrenched from my grip. _

"_Zach!" I screamed. He was being dragged by two men dressed in black into the flames. "Stop, you can't take him!" I ran towards them, but the faster I went, the faster they disappeared. I fell to my knees and felt the flames engulf me. _

"Cammie!" Zach, Bex and Grant were standing over me, and I shot up, screaming. I slapped at my skin to remove the flames, but I wasn't burning.

"Oh my god." I sobbed, throwing an arm around Zach and Bex's necks, crushing Grant in the middle.

"I thought-" I gasped. "You guys died." They rubbed my back soothingly, and I let them go. Zach sat down on the couch with me and patted my back, trying to calm my hiccup-gasps that I got when I cried down.

"She's always had nightmares about the Circle ever since high school." I heard Bex mutter to Grant. I sniffled. I threw my arms around Zach's neck and nuzzled my face into his shoulder, breathing heavily.

"What was it about?" He asked softly. I just shook my head. I could still see the flames, still see Bex and Grant's empty glares.

The more I thought about it, the harder I cried.

**ZPOV**

"What calms her down?" I asked Bex.

"Lots of things. Her mom brushing out her hair, looking at pictures of her dad, Liz and Macey singing to her, popcorn."

"...anything we have _here_?" Grant exclaimed.

"No, not really." Bex sighed.

Cammie sniffled into my shoulder, and I continued rubbing her back. She looked five years old-and it wasn't like she weighed a whole lot either.

"You didn't sing to her?" I asked.

"No. Usually Macey would play the guitar and Liz would sing while I made popcorn." She explained. I groaned.

"Boston never seemed to be..  
>So lovely in the fall to me." I started. She looked up, startled.<br>"Florida's not so cold  
>But distance just gets old." Grant sang.<br>"Hey maybe we can stay  
>Maybe we can lay like this forever.." I sang. Bex laughed and joined in.<br>"Don't you know she is my favorite girl  
>I want to run away for days with her<br>And if you promise not to say a thing  
>I'm gonna buy that girl a diamond ring I said oooooh" Cammie started humming along and playing with the end of my shirt.<br>"I think I love you  
>Oooooh<br>I think I love you, I love you  
>My favorite girl<br>It's funny how love takes you by surprise  
>And I just didn't know what I was missing 'til you opened my eyes<br>Hey maybe we can stay  
>Maybe we can lay like this forever<br>Don't you know she is my favorite girl  
>I want to run away for days with her<br>And if you promise not to say a thing  
>I'm gonna buy that girl a diamond ring"<br>Cammie started singing softly now.

"I said oooooh  
>I think I love you<br>Oooooh  
>I think I love you I love you<br>My favorite girl  
>We're in love love love<br>Love love love  
>We're in love love love<br>Love love"

Bex laughed. "That was terribly cliché!"

Grant chuckled. "It worked." We looked over at Cammie, and she wasn't crying anymore. She was already asleep.

"Wasn't she singing with us?" I asked, confused. Bex nodded.

"Her body kind of shuts down after she cries."

It was time for Grant and I to sleep, but no one had the heart to wake Cammie up.

"You guys can sleep. I'm not tired." I told them. They smiled gratefully and snuggled up together on the couch. I smirked.

I could already tell Grant was whipped – Bex had him wrapped around her little finger.

But then again-I shouldn't be talking. Cammie stole my heart the moment I met her.

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	10. So Dreams Do Come True, Sadly

_But then again-I shouldn't be talking. Cammie stole my heart the moment I met her. _

**Cammie's POV**

I jerked awake to a loud banging noise. I shot up, and noticed that I had been in Zach's arms. The Circle agents had come back, and they had opened the door forcefully.

"Well, well, well. Isn't this sweet? Sleeping together on the couch." Mrs. Goode sneered.

Zach, Grant, Bex and I stood up warily.

"Zachary! How nice to see you again!"

"Can't say I return the excitement, Mother." Zach stated calmly.

"Oh, don't be a smart-ass. I'm the one with the upper hand here." She smiled crookedly. I blinked. She looked a bit deranged.

"Okay, so you have two choices. You can either come with us the easy way – no fighting, or the hard way, where you struggle..."

Zach's mom droned on and on; it seemed like she liked listening to herself talk. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. My eyes connected with Zach, and he moved his eyes down. I looked down at his hands.

He was making a four with his fingers.

On four, run.

Then, he pointed to Grant and Bex.

Send the signal to them.

I turned and looked at Bex, willing her to look at me. She didn't, her eyes were trained on Mrs. Goode. But Grant did. My hand still at my side, I locked my fingers into a four. He looked down and nodded, nudging Bex.

Four.

Three.

I felt Zach grab my hand. I tangled my fingers through his, squeezing.

Two.

I saw Grant grab Bex's. I saw his touch visible calmed her.

_One._

We suddenly started sprinting to the door, and I could tell that we surprised them. We managed to make it outside, knocking some of then unconscious. Mrs. Goode, who had been pacing, was a couple feet away from us. I already heard her shrieking orders, and the clicks of guns.

I leaned back, using Zach's hand for balance, and kicked a guy in the face. He did the same with me. We ran into the forest, the thick trees providing cover. But I could still hear their footsteps gaining on us. I didn't hear Grant or Bex behind us, but I'm sure they managed.

I hope.

Suddenly, we heard gun shots.

"Duck!" Zach shouted, tugging on my hand. I ducked, still running, and felt a bullet graze through my hair. Suddenly, I tripped and fell, flat on my face.

Some spy I am.

My hand was ripped from Zach's, but I immediately sat up, ignoring my heavily scraped legs.

"Cammie, _get up!_" Zach pulled me back up on my feet, his eyes darting from left to right behind me.

"Sorry, I'm sorry!" I gasped, trying to catch my breath.

"Just run." Zach growled, running behind me now, making sure I didn't fall again. The footsteps behind us started fading, and soon they were nonexistent. We kept running, though.

A spy can never let their guard down. When chased, either attack or run.

If you attack, you better beat the crap out of them. If you run, you know you don't have a chance, so you get the hell away.

Suddenly, I smelled something.

Something that wasn't right.

"Zach...?" I choked out.

"Crap. We have to get out of the forest, Cammie." We stopped running.

"We're _surrounded _by forest. The only way out is the way we came!" I exclaimed. "We would be running right back to the COC."

I recognized the smell.

Smoke.

Just like in my dream.

I whimpered softly, remembering the events.

"Zach, don't leave me, okay?" I stepped forward and clutched his hand, remembering him behind pulled away from me.

"Never." He said back, pecking the top of my head.

It was getting hard for me to breathe. Even though I couldn't see the flames yet, I knew they were going to surround us soon.

"I think we're going to just have to keep running." I told Zach.

He nodded. "I just hope Bex and Grant are alright."

My heartbeat quickened. In my dream they were dead...

I shook my head. It was only a dream.

Only a dream.

Half of which is already starting to come true.

We started running again. Stress and guilt was gnawing at my brain.

I had to tell someone. I had to tell someone about my dream, and what happened.

"Zach, in my dream..." I rushed out.

He chuckled, but there was no humor in his voice. "Really? You choose now to tell me about it, Gallagher Girl? While we're running for our lives?"

The playful nickname and sarcasm he used calmed me, somehow.

"Really." I said seriously. "In my dream, I was running, just like this. And the forest was engulfed in flames."

Zach looked bewildered, his grip on my hand tightening. I looked to my left, and saw sparks and ashes starting to lick away at the trees. I looked behind us, and saw the crackling fire, angry and red. I couldn't breathe. My eyes were watering and every breath felt like my throat was going to rip open.

I coughed violently.

We ran faster, desperately trying to escape the flames. I continued.

"And Bex and Grant...they were dead. And you were being wrenched away from me, and..." I coughed again.

"I don't want that to happen. Because what if it comes true, Zach?"

"It won't. I won't ever leave you, not even for a second, until we're safe. I promise, Cammie."

He started coughing, too. Deep, phlegmy coughs that wracked his frame. I rubbed his back as we stopped running.

"Are you okay?" I asked in my scratchy, barely-there voice.

"Cammie, we both know we aren't. Look around! We're surrounded by walls of fire. We're going to die from lack of oxygen if we don't get higher up. We have to climb the trees and breathe." He said in a whisper.

I nodded. But I couldn't help but wonder – after we climb the tree, the flames would probably just burn it down. Us along with it. Tears threatened to spill down my cheeks, I was afraid.

I know I was a spy, and this was my job, but I was not ready to die.

Not like this.

We found a medium-sized tree, with lots of bumps and branches, which made it easy to climb. We started climbing up the tree, our muscles trembling from exhaustion.

But the higher up we went, the clearer the air got. I sucked it in, my mouth wide open, eyes closed, head tipped back to the sky. We sat on a sturdy branch and breathed, looking down at the fire. It was getting close now – too close.

I was hoping for a miracle.

Suddenly, a helicopter came up above us.

They pushed down a ladder.

Zach and I looked at each other with wide eyes.

I couldn't believe our luck.

"Oh my god." I laughed in relief, my voice shaking. "I really thought we were going to die."

"Just climb, Gallagher Girl." Zach's smirk was back. I climbed up the ladder, him right below me. I got in the helicopter and turned around, helping Zach up.

I looked up, expected to see Mr. Solomon, my mom, or anyone from the CIA.

But I didn't.

I looked up to see Mrs. Goode.

**kgorange: Awh, thank you so much![: I hope you liked this chapter!**

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**frizzy-wizzy-oringina: AHAHA it _was_ a cliché song! I love it. ^_^ Thanks for reviewing! **

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**AussieGallagherGirl: I would love to hear Zach sing. [': Well, he's not real. So...I don't know where I was going with that. ._. Thanks for reviewing! XD **

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**biiankah: Awh, I read everyone's reviews! [': They're amazing! UGHH I want to become an author. ]: But they don't make a lot of money these days, so my parents are all..BLEHH. Thanks so much for reviewing, though. [: **

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	11. Under the Parachute

_"Just climb, Gallagher Girl." Zach's smirk was back. I climbed up the ladder, him right below me. I got in the helicopter and turned around, helping Zach up._

_I looked up, expected to see Mr. Solomon, my mom, or anyone from the CIA._

_But I didn't._

_I looked up to see Mrs. Goode._

**Zach's POV**

I quickly grabbed Cammie's hand and yanked her behind me, pushing her against the now-closed helicopter door we had just stumbled through.

"What the hell?" I growled. We had thought we had gotten away, too. Damn it.

"I can take care of myself, Zach!" Cammie tried to shout, but it was muffled by the back of my shirt. I could feel her eyelashes batting up and down as she blinked, and she wriggled out of my grasp and peeked over my shoulder at my mother. I kept my hands tightly on her waist, not letting her move anymore.

"Yes, Zach, dear. She can take care of herself. Didn't you hear her?" My mom stepped out and tried to grab Cammie's wrist, but I leaned back even more.

"Don't touch her," I glared.

"Can't breathe," Cammie gave out a tiny little cough. I loosened up a bit, and she side-stepped out of my hold.

"Zach, I'm a spy too, remember? I don't need protection." Cammie glared at me.

"Can't help it. You're my Gallagher Girl." I frowned, reaching out and taking her hand again, needing some part of her to be with me, so I could have something to hold on to to make sure she's safe.

"Awh, isn't that sweet? My son finally found something he loves in life!" My mother pretended to swoon and batted her eyelashes at us, making a heart with her hands. It was kind of weird, actually, to see a smile grace her lips.

Even though it was a fake smile.

It was weird.

"Anyway, what were we saying before that _horrid_ forest fire? Oh yes. We know you know what we need, Cameron. Your father must have told _somebody_, and it's either you or your mother."

"How would he have told me?" Cammie suddenly screamed. If I weren't a spy, I would have jumped. "I was a child when he went MIA! If he even did tell me, then I wouldn't have understood what he was saying anyway!"

"_Liar_!" My mother screeched. Cammie squeezed my hand at the intensity of her voice, but her gaze never faltered, staring at my mother's face straight-on.

"If he didn't tell you, then he...he must have hidden it somewhere inside of you! Installed a micro-chip inside of your brain, something!"

"He wouldn't have done that to me! He loved me – me and my mother – and he wouldn't have done anything to put us in danger!" Cammie's tone was threatening now, and her body was trembling with fury.

"It's a funny thing, a secret is. It eats you alive, my dear." my mother said harshly, harshly cupping Cammie's cheek and slashing her nail across it. Leaving a scratch, but not deep enough to cut skin and draw blood. I stepped forward, but Cammie stopped me with her hand.

"It eats you alive until you _have_ to tell someone, anyone. It haunts you, it lingers behind your footsteps until you just can't take it anymore. You have to shout it to the world. You can't keep it to yourself, or you'll explode. A secret never stays one, no matter how hard you try to keep it that way."

"Then why are you so utterly convinced that _I _know it?" Cammie spat.

I looked around for an escape route. Things were getting too intense, too serious. A fight was coming, I could feel it in the air. The way my mother's hand kept twitching towards her belt, where several knives and napotine patches were stored. How the helicopter driver was nervously glancing at his controls, then my mother, then back at the sky in front of him.

Cammie could feel it too, I could tell, because she was slowly moving herself into a fighting position, an imperceptible crouch, knees slightly apart, arms ready.

Suddenly, I saw it. A parachute.

Right over to the right. It was withing reaching distance, but I would have to bend down to get it. Unless I slid it over with my foot. I squeezed Cammie's hand and, as quickly as I could, flicked my eyes into the direction of the parachute.

_Stall her until I can get that in our reach._ Was what I was trying to say.

She seemed to get it. She squeezed back and continued the heated argument with my mother again. I slowly inched my foot over to hook it onto a strap of the parachute, glad that my mother's attention was all on Cammie. Suddenly, my mother screamed something so loud even Cammie jumped.

But I guess it was a good thing, because the jump gave me an excuse to move, and I slid my foot all the way over and hooked it under the strap.

Now to bring it back to us, slide it on, hook Cammie onto it with me, open the door, and jump out.

Well, this was going to be easy.

Not.

I inched it closer. It made a small scratching noise.

I looked over at my mom, glad that she didn't notice.

Some assassin she is.

She was red in the face, her hair messed up, breathing heavily. It was over halfway to my now.

Suddenly, my mom pulled out a knife and held it towards Cammie. I heard Cammie gasp.

That gasp brought me to my senses.

I had to do this now, and I had to do this quickly. I lunged for the parachute, threw it onto my back, and grabbed the hook that was connected to it. I hooked it onto one of Cammie's belt loops, and flung the door open with the other hand.

"_No!" _I heard my mother shriek, lashing out blindly with her knife. I heard Cammie scream out, and then we were falling.

Falling through the sky, Cammie's hair whipping my in the face. I held her close to me, trying to protect her from some of the violent winds that was beating up on us.

You know that 'funny tummy feeling' you get when you go down on a roller coaster?

Yea.

It was here.

Except a million times worse. I felt like I was going to upchuck everything and anything I had in my stomach. As the ground got nearer and nearer, I quickly pulled the string to let the parachute come out. It jerked us back up painfully, and we let out a faint _Umph_.

We were slowly floating down now, and it was kind of peaceful, actually. The wind was blowing us every which way, and we were twirling around in the air. I was still holding her from behind, my arms wrapped around her waist.

"Do you think Bex and Grant are okay?" she asked quietly.

"They're strong, they would have made it out," I answered earnestly. I really did believe that. Grant was the strongest person I knew, and from the way Cammie talks about Bex, she probably was too.

"What if they didn't? Like in my dream..."

"They did, Cammie." I said sternly.

We fell to the ground, and I quickly caught myself on my hands before I smushed her to death. The parachute fell over us like a bright orange blanket, and for a second I was content just laying there, staring into her blue eyes. She smiled and raised her head a bit, pressing her soft lips onto mine. I went down on my elbows and tangled my fingers in her hair, deepening the kiss. She brought her hands up and teased the hairs at the back of my neck, twirling them with my fingers.

We broke apart, panting.

"I love you. Thank you for trying to protect me. Even though I don't need protecting," she glared.

It was then that I noticed that slightly deep gash on her cheek.

"Says the girl with a cut on her cheek! Does it hurt?" I frowned, reaching out to touch it.

"It's just a scratch, and no." She swatted my hand away, turning her cheek away from me.

We laid there in silence for a minute.

"...We should get out from under this thing, now. It's getting hard for me to breathe," she laughed. God, I loved her laugh. I just smiled real big and kissed her again, and then pulled away, smirking. She blinked, and bit her lip. She started to sit up, which meant I had to, too. We used our arms and pushed the parachute off of us, and her hair got all messy. I laughed and brought my hand to the top of her head, mussing it up even more.

She pouted and glared at me, with her hair going every which way. She looked adorable.

We looked around. We were in a flat stretch of land, no sign of civilization in sight. She tried to walk away from me, but was jerked back from the hook that was connected to me on her belt loop. She stumbled, and I caught her.

"Unhook me?" She asked.

"No," I smirked as I kissed her neck.

"Zach," she warned. I chuckled as I unhooked her, and looked around.

"This is bad. It will be extremely easy for them to spot us now, since we have no cover," I observed. We looked up. The helicopter was no where in sight.

"...Not that I'm complaining or anything, but wouldn't they have tried to jump down and get us back?" Cammie asked, confused.

I shrugged. "They only had one parachute, which we took. But I don't get why they didn't just take the helicopter down and land it, and then chase after us. They must have a plan..."

"You know what I don't get? How it's so flat and rocky here, but only a couple of miles ago was that forest."

"I don't think it was a couple of miles. We were in the helicopter for a pretty long time, and it was a Circle helicopter, which are five times as fast as normal ones." I explained.

"Oh." She said, looking down. She bit her lip, and tucked her hair behind her ear, but missing a few strands. I cocked my head to the side and looked at her, reaching out to finish what her hands were trying to do.

"Hey," I said gently. "What's the matter?"

Her eyes had glazed over and she got a far-away look in her eyes, as though she were thinking of something very hard.

She shrugged.

"You're still worried about Bex and Grant and that dream of yours, huh?" I asked.

She sighed and nodded, pulling her eyebrows together.

"It wasn't fair, Zach! I...we had just gotten them back, and now we have to find them again. I miss her. I miss my best friend," she choked out.

"I miss my best friend, too," I said quietly. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

Once.

Then four times.

Then three times.

"I love you, too." I smiled back.

"Let's start walking. We'll get somewhere...eventually." Cammie suggested.

We looked at the open stretch of rocky terrain, and looked at each other sadly, wondering how long it will take for us to see civilization again.

But most importantly, how long it will take for us to see our best friends again.

**Hi guys!**

**Okay...to be honest, I really did not like this chapter.**

**At all. **

**But I've re-written it literally seven times, and I don't know where else to go with it. I didn't want Cammie to be captured yet, because then it would just be Zach trying to get Bex, Grant and Cammie? And we all know he would find Cammie first, and then Bex and Grant would just be like, "Hello? What about us?" **

**And yea. :/ I dunno. **

**Suggestions would be EXTREMELY helpful, and I'll try and update soon.**

**Thanks so much for reading.[: **


	12. But We're Team Zammie

_"Let's start walking. We'll get somewhere...eventually." Cammie suggested._

_We looked at the open stretch of rocky terrain, and looked at each other sadly, wondering how long it will take for us to see civilization again._

_But most importantly, how long it will take for us to see our best friends again._

**Zach's POV**

We've been walking for hours – the only things keeping us alive were our spy's sense of direction and strength. If we had been normal civilians, we would've dropped unconscious from dehydration and exhaustion. But the whole time we walked, we never let go of the other person's hand. At first we were talking, but then realized it would be safer to save our breath and energy for the long walk ahead of us.

"Zach," she exclaimed after hours of silence. "We are getting no where! If we don't get water soon, we're going to drop dead." Her voice was croaky, and her lips were cracked and bleeding. I brought my hand up and cupped my cheek, wiping the blood off with my thumb.

"I know, Cam. We'll get through this. We always do," I said.

She threw her hands up. "Look around, Zach! There's nothing within miles and miles of here. Maybe that's why your mother just let us go here. Because she knew we would just die!"

"Cammie," I said, a bit annoyed at her negativity now. "My mom needs you for _information_. She wouldn't leave you somewhere to die – if she wanted you dead, you'd be dead."

I didn't mean to snap at her, but the exhaustion was getting to me – to both of us. She widened her eyes and let go of my hand, stepping away from me, looking down.

My eyes got big and I reached out for her. "I...I didn't mean it like that! I just..." I shook my head, running a hand over my face.

"It's okay. I'm sorry," she said.

"For what?"

"For being so crabby."

I playfully pinched her cheek, and she smacked my arm away, giggling.

"Let's rest. Let's just lay right here and look at the stars, and sleep," I suggested. She nodded.

"Tomorrow we'll get out of here. Tomorrow," she whispered. We got down on the ground, and I tucked her head into my neck, breathing deeply.

We were silent again, and I looked over at her. Her nose was scrunched up a bit in concentration, and her eyes were wide and staring at the stars in awe.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"How 'bout some water?"

I laughed and shook my head. "No-can-do, Miss. All I have is...not even a penny..." I trailed off. "A kiss for your thoughts?" I rephrased. She laughed.

"I was just thinking...about how _incredibly _small we are. I mean, think about it. Our lives are so important and significant to us, while there are billions of other lives going on all around us, and we don't even know it. We're in this state, which is in a country, which is in a continent, which is surrounded by ocean, which is all in Earth, which is surrounded by other planets, all circling the sun, all in the solar system, all in a galaxy, which is all in a universe, which is in who knows what! We're just so little and unimportant that it...I don't know."

"You're right. But our lives are most definitely important to us. You know? I mean, to other people we're just teenagers, who go out for ice cream and movies and have fun and kiss. But we _know_ that we're something different. We're spies – and good ones, at that. We grew up way too fast, and saw the world for what it actually is, not what it's made up to be. I mean, kids think that the world is filled with good people and candy and bunnies. We think that the world is filled with terrorists and secret organizations and bombs. I mean, it's whether we see the glass half empty or half full, I suppose," I let out in a rush.

This felt so...right. I couldn't have ever said anything like that with any other girl I've known. I felt like I could share anything and everything with Cammie – my thoughts, my worries, my happiness, my anger. I just hope that she felt as open with me as I did with her.

We stopped talking after that, and drifted to sleep. I rolled to my side and hugged her to my chest, and buried my face in her hair, inhaling her scent. Was it odd that even though she was never part of my childhood, her scent was the only thing that reminded me of home?

Breathing in her sweet scent and feeling her eyelashes tickle my skin, I fell asleep with a dry throat and exhausted legs.

I woke up with a jerk to the sound of a helicopter. The first thing I noticed was my throat – normally, humans would last up to three days without water. But since we had walked miles and miles in the California heat, it was much worse. My lips were cracked and dry, and I could barely swallow the little spit I had left in my mouth. My vision was blurry and I felt nauseous and weak, my hands shaking.

Cammie sat up, too, but could barely hold herself up on her arms. She started coughing – a terrible, dry, painful noise. I made a sound of sympathy and rubbed her back, and looked up.

At first, I had a glimmer of hope. Maybe it was a CIA helicopter, having found us, coming to rescue us with buckets and buckets of water.

But my heart sank at the sight of the same exact helicopter and we were in yesterday. I knew it was too late. We were both too weak to run away. A ladder dropped down and two large, burly men practically flew down it. One grabbed me, and the other grabbed Cammie roughly.

"Don't touch her like that!" I growled, voice weak. He just laughed and nodded his head up to his partner, signaling for him to climb the ladder. He flung me over his shoulder and climbed, and the swaying motion of his body movements on the ladder wasn't helping my nausea. We got dumped into the helicopter, and I did the first thing I was trained to do: Notice things.

I noticed that my mom changed clothes – she was now in a white ruffled blouse and slim, straight work pants. Her hair was up in a bun, and she was standing in front of us, smirking, her hands behind her back. The two men who carried us up here went to the front of the helicopter, and switched autopilot off. We were moving again.

I noticed that there was a new scratch on the door, probably from Cammie and my hasty exit yesterday.

Cammie was barely conscious, and she slumped against me.

"Hello, Cameron, Zachary. So nice to see you two again!" my mother laughed.

"What was the point of that? Just dumping us there to practically kill us off and then picking us up again?" Cammie snapped, breathing heavily.

My mother rolled her eyes.

"It's just as you said: to practically kill you."

Then, she pulled out a bottle of water and cracked it open, and drank it in front of us. Our eyes widened, and I could feel my heart yearning for that water.

I would give anything for it – except for Cammie, of course.

"Oh? Do you want some?" she laughed. She closed the bottle, but kept her hand around it. We hesitated, and didn't answer.

Of course, we did want some.

Very. Badly.

We must have looked pretty pathetic, because she rolled her eyes and tossed the bottle at us. I lunged for it and opened it, looking at it and smelling it to make sure it had no poisonous substance in it. I could detect none.

I held the bottle to Cammie's lips and let her drink. She gulped it down quickly, and pulled away once she drank half the bottle, leaving the rest for me.

I drank it, and tossed the bottle aside.

It wasn't enough. We needed more.

Somehow, it had intensified our thirst, that little taste of water. It had us hoping, having had a little and needing more, more.

But we knew better than to look at my mother expectantly. No matter how weak we were at the moment, we were going to hide as much of our weakness as we could.

But I'm guessing we weren't dong very well.

"Oh, you poor kids. Lost, thirsty, and scared. But it's okay. Momma can help you." she threw her head back and laughed, and I sent her a withering glare that went by unnoticed.

"Just get to the damn point! Are you gonna shoot us, throw us out the window, shove a fish down our throats? Stop making small talk," Cammie snapped. I snorted, despite the seriousness of our situation.

It seemed as though we were stuck. If we escaped again, we would be dead from dehydration within the next few hours. We were too weak to fight off the men in front of the helicopter and take control of it. We were too weak...

"Oh, Cameron dear. Sarcasm was always one of your more prominent traits," my mother smiled. "But, if you insist, I'll get to the point. I want you. I don't want that pathetic thing I have to call my son. You two get separated - "

We both started to protest, and I felt Cammie cling onto me harder.

"Ah-ah!" my mother raised a finger. "I wasn't done. If you," she pointed at Cammie. "come with me, I'll drop Zachy-poo over there off in a city with water and clothes and money, safe and sound."

"Hell no!" I shouted. But Cammie was quiet.

"Cammie..." I shook my head, knowing what she was thinking.

"It's the only option, Zach," she whispered.

"No, no! It's not!" I was on the verge of hysterics. No way was Cammie leaving me. No way was I leaving Cammie. "We're a team, remember? Teams do not separate! Cam..."

I pleaded with her, ducking so I could look into her eyes.

She smiled softly and placed a hand on my cheek.

"Sometimes, a teammate has to do what's best for the other, not for themselves."

"I won't let you. I'm _staying with you_." I tightened my grip on her, glaring.

She shook her head. "No, Zach. You're not." she threaded her fingers through my hair.

"Yes, I am! I-"

She kissed me, and I felt her hand move to the back of my neck. Something sticky slapped onto my skin, and I gasped and pulled back just in time to see her mouth, _I'm sorry_. _I love you_.

And I passed out.

**Cammie's POV**

I caught Zach as he slumped over, and I placed a gentle kiss on his forehead before looking up at Mrs. Goode, hatred in my eyes.

"Now let him down, just like you promised," I said.

She sighed. "Very well. We have no use for him anyway, and killing my own blood would be _such _a difficult task. Rigo!" she snapped towards the man flying the helicopter. "Find the nearest city and let the boy down."

"Very well, Mrs. Goode," he said. For such a tall, burly man, his voice was a bit higher than I expected. I almost giggled.

As he was finding the nearest city, Mrs. Goode went over and tightly bound my hands and feet together. I gritted my teeth and didn't fight back.

_You're doing this for Zach. You're doing this for him, and only him._

We flew over a small town, and Mrs. Goode grabbed a bag and slung two bottles of water in it, a shirt and jeans, a packet of dried apples, and thirty bucks in it. She attached it to her son and flung him down.

I winced. We were close enough to the ground for him not to die, but he would have nasty cuts and bruises.

Just before Zach had passed out, I saw a flash of desperation and disbelief in his eyes. But there were still traces of love and care from our kiss, and I had to bite my lips to stop myself from sobbing.

_I'm sorry. _

_But it's for the best. _

**Thank you guys so much for the reviews! We're almost up to 100! :D**

**I'm so happy! Thank you so much. ^_^ Hope you liked this chapter! Sorry it was a bit uneventful. **


	13. Dr Byrn

_Just before Zach had passed out, I saw a flash of desperation and disbelief in his eyes. But there were still traces of love and care from our kiss, and I had to bite my lips to stop myself from sobbing._

_I'm sorry._

_But it's for the best._

**Cammie's POV**

Once Zach was gone from the helicopter, Mrs. Goode simply closed the door and sat down. She was staring at me – and not a zoning out staring into space but you realize it's actually a person staring – her eyes, so similar to Zach's, were piercing into my body so intensely that I wouldn't have been surprised if my hair started burning.

She said something softly to the man driving the helicopter – so softly that even I didn't hear it. Then, she simply walked over to me and injected a syringe into my arm.

The pinching pain made me want to cry out, but I kept my face expressionless, keeping my emotions in check. Then my vision went fuzzy, and I hit the floor of the helicopter with a thud.

_I did this for him._

_He's safe now._

**Zach's POV**

Fire.

Bex and Grant holding hands, running away together.

Piercing, deep blue eyes.

Long, dirty blonde hair.

Cammie.

My Cammie.

I automatically reached my hand out and felt around on the bed for her warmth – and came up with nothing but cool sheets. I crinkled my eyebrows and tried to roll over, still groping around for her, but my body was so sore all I could do was groan.

"Mr. Goode? Mr. Goode, can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?" A gravelly, slightly nasal voice broke through my semi-peaceful haze.

I pried my eyes open – my eyelashes were stuck together – and blinked, clearing my vision.

A doctor was standing next to me, a clipboard cocked on his hip. One look at his name tag dangling off of his neck and I knew this wasn't a CIA hospital.

The hospitals that were for CIA agents only had a bright, startling red on their name tags, and a lot of the time it was their code name on it along with their actual name.

I was immediately annoyed. Where was Cammie? What happened to Bex and Grant? Where was my mother?

Suddenly, memories came rushing back into my brain so quickly that I gagged a little. The doctor – whose name, I noticed, was Dr. Byrn, was rattling on about something that I really could not care less about, telling me about my injuries.  
>I didn't care if I was hurt.<p>

All I cared about was Cammie.

My mother had Cammie.

_My mother had Cammie._

And Cam had practically pushed me off of the helicopter to get me to safety.

"God damn it!" I punched the bed.

Dr. Byrn look at me, startled. "Are you quite alright?"

"Yea, I'm just peachy. Where are my clothes? I'm leaving," I snapped. I jumped up from the bed, and saw that my clothes were strewn over the chair next to my bed. I grabbed for them. There was no time to be polite to strangers that I was never going to see again in my life – even if the stranger was trying to help you.

"I'm afraid, Mr. Goode, that you can not leave yet, because we still need to check if your head is -"

"Listen up, buttercup," I growled, using a term Cammie always snapped at me, telling me to 'Suck it up, buttercup'. God, I missed her. I needed her. "I am a CIA agent," I flashed him my badge that I took from the back pocket of my pants. "and I need to get _out_ of this hospital or some very, very bad things are going to happen to this world. So I suggest you let me go without a fight."

I tugged my pants on, ripped the blasted hospital gown off my body, and shrugged on my dirty T-shirt.

"Safety regulations -" Dr. Byrn grabbed a hold of my arm.

I shook him off easily, and sighed.

"Honestly, I know how to take care of myself, Dr. Byrn. If I have to call the CIA director myself and take precious time out of his busy day for him to talk to you, I'll do it. But just..._let me go_, because I really need to go rescue the only person I'll ever truly love from my bitch of a mother," I muttered the last part under my breath, too low for civilians to hear.

"Just pretend I was never here," I told him.

And with that, I strode out my room and pressed the Lobby button in the elevator, not even waiting for his response. I walked out the hospital doors and into the hot afternoon, my head pounding and my limbs sore.

I ignored it. I quickly pick-pocketed some poor man wearing an oddly colored tie and took his cell phone. I dialed Jonas.

He didn't pick up.

I groaned in frustration and sat down on a bench, and dialed again.

"Hello?" he picked up.

"Jonas!" I nearly shouted, causing some people to look over at me, shooting me odd looks. My spy senses were off – I didn't even know what time it was, not even bothering to check the clock on the phone. I was nauseous and I had no idea where in the hell I was.

"Zach? Who's phone is this?" Jonas cleared his throat, something he did when he was nervous.

"I don't know. Listen, Jo. You know how I was on that mission to find Grant and Bex? With Cammie? Yea. Well, I kind of fell in love with her, and I'm pretty sure I've never loved anyone as much as I do her in my life, or will I ever, and Bex and Grant are missing, and Cammie shoved me out of a helicopter, and I have no idea where the hell I am, and my mother took Cammie away from me, and I yelled at Dr. Byrn, and my head hurts, and..." I trailed off, yanking a hand through my hair roughly.

"Wait, what? Just...okay, stop talking. I barely understood a word you said. I'll track the phone you're using and come pick you up, okay? Just don't move. My partner and I will come get you," Jonas said, and then hung up.

I sat on the bench, brushing dirt off of my clothes, rubbing my hand over my face, and nodding off. I must have looked a mess – with my blood-crusted hair and wrinkled, soiled clothes – it was no wonder nobody came and sat down on the bench next to me, even though there was enough space for at least two more people.

Twenty five and a half minutes later, a white car pulled up in front of me. Jonas came out from the passenger door, and helped me up.

I got into the back seat, and the cool air-conditioned air immediately calmed my headache. I collapsed into the seat, exhausted. A tiny blonde was in the driver's seat, and she turned around to look at me with worried, baby blue eyes.

"Are you alright?" she squeaked. "I'm Liz, by the way. Cammie's my best friend. You're her boyfriend, right? It's nice to meet you. She's always needed someone to depend on, you know. You guys seem cute together. I'm glad she met you. It's so weird, huh? How you find your lovers on missions. And I'm sorry – I'm rambling. Cam always told me to stop that."

Liz bit her lip, and I chuckled. I already liked her.

"I'm Zach."

She was cute and a bit awkward, perfect for Jonas.

"You okay, man?" Jonas asked, shutting the passenger side door after sliding in.

I rubbed my temples. "Yea, Jo. Where are we?"

I looked at the clock – it was twelve in the afternoon.

"We're actually not that far from home, Zach," Jonas said.

I blinked.

But we had been in California...

Cammie and I _had_ walked miles and miles. And we had been in a Circle helicopter, which was five times faster than a normal one.

"Wait!" Liz exclaimed, pulling out from the curb. "Where is Cammie?"

I was silent, guilt constricting my heart and closing up my throat, making it hard for me to breathe.

"I..." I started. I gnawed on the inside of my lip.

"Is she okay?" Liz asked frantically.

"No. Or...I don't know. She -" my voice caught. "My mother took her."

Liz blinked at me in the rear view mirror. "Your...your mother? What does she want with Cammie? Planning your wedding, or something?'

I made eye contact with Jonas. He let out a nod, saying that we could trust her.

"Yea, Liz. My mother. She's...she's the Circle's leader."

She slammed on the breaks. "Does Cammie know this?"

"Of course! I wouldn't keep something like this from her for so long."

Suddenly, I looked at Liz's wrists.

On her left arm, there was a hair tie.

"Liz?" I asked.

"Yea?" I never noticed until now, but she had a slight southern accent.

"That hair tie on your wrist...is it the one where you guys can pull open and send messages to each other?"

"It is!" Liz nodded proudly.

"Do you think you can use that and talk to Cammie?" I asked, getting excited again.

"I...well, we would need the device. Macey told me she took it from Gallagher and gave it to you guys. Do you know where it is?"

I racked my brain and tried to think back.

I couldn't remember. Where had Cammie and I left it? I cursed and closed my eyes, rubbing my temples again, trying to remember.

Cammie's life was on the line here, and I couldn't remember a stupid detail like this one.

"Zach? It's okay...Liz and I can just make a new one," Jonas assured me.

"It would slow us down, though," I muttered.

We pulled up to an unfamiliar house – probably Liz's – and we went inside. Liz went to get the first aid kid and started putting fast-healing ointment on my bruises and cuts.

She pulled out a cell phone.

"Mace? Please don't flip out on me, here – oopsy daisies!" she had knocked over the bottle of disinfectant alcohol for my cuts, and Jonas just rolled his eyes and picked it up for her, as if he were used to it. "Don't say anything yet, okay? You might want to sit down, darling. You sitting? Okay. Well...Cammie's been kidnapped. By the Circle. Stop!" I heard screaming on the other end, and I smiled softly at how much Cam's friends cared about her.

She needed more people like that in her life. "No! Stop! Just...I don't care! Please just listen to me, Macey! Grab Tristan and come to my house. Now! Operation Save Duchess and Chameleon is on."

"Tristan?" I looked at Jonas. "Our Tristan?"

He nodded, grinning. "Our Tristan."

A tall girl with thick, shiny black hair and icy blue eyes walked into the house, dragging an old friend of mine behind her by the hand.

"Zach? Good to see ya, man!"

I smirked back at him. "Can't say the same for you."

He rolled his eyes.

The girl, who I assumed was Macey, looked at me.

"You're Zach Goode?"

I nodded.

"You're Cammie's boyfriend?"

I nodded again.

"Well, since Cammie doesn't have a big brother or a dad, and Bex isn't here, I guess I'll have to be the one to say the threatening cliché line: You break her heart, I'll break your spinal chord."

I just stared at her.

"She's a keeper, Tris," I muttered.

He grinned and slung an arm around her shoulders. "Don't I know it."

Liz had finished cleaning up my cuts, and I moved from the table to the couch.

"Liz and I will start working on the device. Get some rest, okay Zach? Actually, scratch that. Take a shower, borrow some of my clothes, and _then _take a nap," Jonas told me.

I wanted to stay awake and help them – I wanted to contribute as much as I could to find Cammie, Bex and Grant.

But my head wouldn't stop pounding, and my brain was practically a useless lump in my skull.

So I trudged upstairs, listening to the sounds of my friends planning for the rescue below me.

**Oh my god. **

**I am so sorry. **

**This chapter...was so incredibly boring I don't even know. **

**But it was stuff that needed to be in the story – I'm so sorry, guys. Please don't hate me. T_T **

**Okay. **

**Review or don't review. **

**I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. **

**Next chapter will be more interesting, I promise! **

**Thank you for reading.[:**


	14. Frost

_I wanted to stay awake and help them – I wanted to contribute as much as I could to find Cammie, Bex and Grant._

_But my head wouldn't stop pounding, and my brain was practically a useless lump in my skull._

_So I trudged upstairs, listening to the sounds of my friends planning for the rescue below me._

**Cammie's POV**

I sat curled up the bed, my head pounding, my fingers stiff. There was a distant dripping that was on the constant. It was the first thing I noticed when I got here.

The second thing was the cold. My fingers were so pale that sometimes I though they were going transparent. My teeth chattered constantly and my lips were so chapped they bled. I ducked my head in my knees and felt my hair fall around me. They provided the most miniscule amount of warmth, but at least it was something.

_You're doing this for Zach. You're doing this for Zach. You're doing this for Zach._

It was the only thing I could tell myself that could make me feel a little better. The thought of Zach in my position, shivering and starving, made my heart break a little.

It's been a week, and I've had water, five pieces of bread, and some things that resembled raisins. My eyes stung, but were dry. I was done crying.

I was done crying.

I needed to get out, and I needed to get out fast.

I knew that Liz and the others were trying to find Bex, Grant and I, but so far they haven't been doing any progress. None that affected me, anyway. The door was shut tight. There wasn't even a small crack at the bottom to let some light or fresh air in. I've been sitting in this freezing dark room for days.

They didn't give me _anything _to work with, though. Not a pillow, not a blanket, not even a bed. Everything was perfectly even and flat and completely and utterly useless.

I screamed. I screamed out my hunger and my cold and my love and my fear. It echoed around in the room and my high-pitched wail surrounded me, filling my ears.

Suddenly, the door opened with a groan.

And Mrs. Goode herself walked in.

"Cameron."

I kept my gaze ahead, refusing to look at her. She walked over to me and fisted my hair, drawing my head up sharply. I glared at her, still shivering from the cold.

"Let's just skip the petty little small talk and get down to business, shall we? The Gallagher Academy alumni disc. We want it. You're our hostage," she smiled hysterically. "And your naïve little friends will come," she leaned closer with each word. "And. Get. You. Obviously we won't let you go – and I think you know the whole hostage situation. Where the loud, heavy pulsing music plays, and everything slows down, and the lover, in which this situation would be my son, which actually makes it all the more exciting, the wretched little rebel, will look at the alumni disc in his hand, and then look at you, and back and forth and back and forth and you'll scream out to choose the disc but of course his heart chooses you, so he tosses the disc to me, I'm standing behind you, by the way, holding a gun to your head or a knife to your throat, whichever one I'm feeling that day, and then-"

"Jesus, I get it!" I shrieked out.

Mrs. Goode just shrugged. I stared at her. For a terrorist, I imagined her to be a lot more...intense. Scary. But she was barely any taller than I was, and she had the most childish grin on when she was blurting her 'vision' of the day out to me. Her wayward red curls flew all around her face as she paced back and forth in front of the door, muttering to herself. They bounced childishly, and if she weren't a terrorist, I would think she was beautiful.

I sat there on the floor shivering, glaring up at her with wide eyes. Fatigue had struck my body and spread through it like a sickness, causing my limbs to shake with any effort I put on them. My stomach acid churned, and my mouth was so dry my tongue was slightly rough.

_Geez, Cammie. Get a grip. You are a freaking spy. Stop whining and try to use her presence to your advantage. _

The door was still shut tight – she had closed it behind her when she entered the room. I closed my eyes and concentrated, playing back every single lesson I've ever had at Gallagher.

Pick-pocketing, Latin, brush passes, round-house kicks, how to use a gun, how to talk and dance like a lady...

Then my memory took me back to one of Mrs. Dabney's classes.

_I looked at Bex, watching her was she slowly gathered her hair into a ponytail. The back of her neck was slick with sweat, yet she was still ten times prettier than I've ever been. She had her legs crossed over each other and were swinging them, the bottom of her shoes brushing the ground with each swing. Macey was twirling a piece of black, shiny hair with her right index finger, blinking her mascaraed eyes and looking around the room in boredom. Liz was vigorously taking notes, bent over her notebook and scrawling in her tiny writing, impatiently brushing her short blonde hair out of her face as she bit her lip. _

"_Today, girls, we will be learning the art of throwing our voices. Some may think that this is a ridiculous thing, but it would actually be quite useful later on in your lives, especially to the field agents." _

I opened my eyes. That was it.

I gathered up the little spit I had in my mouth and swallowed, wetting my throat. I quietly cleared my throat, turning my head and pretending to finger-comb my hair, sweeping it all over my right shoulder and covering my face.

"Where is she? The tracker I put in her says she's somewhere around here," I imitated Liz's voice, making my normal one slightly higher and with a southern twang. I threw it so that it sounded like it was coming from right outside the door.

Mrs. Goode stopped pacing and went quiet, listening.

"I am going to _kill _that woman who gave birth to me for taking her...if Cammie's hurt..." I imitated Zach's voice, going deep.

I heard Mrs. Goode chuckle slightly.

"I don't think she's in here, guys. Let's turn around..." Bex's voice came, a British accent slipping onto my lips.

Mrs. Goode rolled her eyes and huffed impatiently. "Stupid kids...spies should have no hope in the next generation."

I looked up, pretending to be panicked. "Zach! _Zach, I'm in here! _I-"

Mrs. Goode flew over to me and smacked me across the face. I let a whimper slip out from my teeth and I slumped back, exhausted.

"The hostage game isn't as fun when they don't find you themselves, Cameron," she growled. Then she twirled around and left, shutting the door behind her.

"_Damn it_," I cursed. I had been expecting her to leave the door open a bit so I could quietly slip out. I looked around at the grey room again, still finding nothing. Not that I expected to. Spies never miss a detail the first time they evaluate a room.

I slowly got up but fell on my hands and knees as I tried to get off the bed. The tips of my hair touched the floor, and my breathing was already heavy. I slowly dragged myself across the room and made my way to the door.

There was a keypad, and a 10 digit password that you had to type in to slide the door open. I remember the tune that had played through the room as she had entered and exited. Each number, staring at one, slowly got two pitches higher. I stared at the screen, straining through the darkness to see the numbers. It went from one to nine, and a small zero at the bottom. I hesitantly put my fingers at the five, seeing which pitch held that number.

I pressed it, and recognized it. It was in the password, the fourth one. I cleared the keypad. The first one was extremely high, so I pressed the zero. Then a low-ish one, so I pressed two. Then eight, and then five. I kept going until I had pressed 10 digits.

_Wrong password._

"Damn," I breathed.

I tried again, replacing some of the numbers.

_Wrong password. _

I tried again.

_Wrong password. _

I wanted to scream in frustration, but I didn't had the energy or the time. Mrs. Goode would be coming back any time, and I _needed _to get out of here.

I breathed slowly and concentrated, squinting my eyes even harder and gnawing on my bottom lip.

_Password accepted. _

I laughed in relief, determination now flowing through me at my first accomplishment. I quickly but quietly leaned against the wall and tried to get myself out without fainting or falling over. My vision blurred and if I had food in my stomach I would have thrown up.

I gagged and dry heaved and tears squeezed out of my eyes. My legs were shaking from the exhaustion of holding my body up, but I gritted my teeth and shuffled forward. But suddenly I heard footsteps and I froze. I quickly got down, a relief for my legs, and curled up into the tightest ball I could manage, hiding in the shadows. My eyes were wide, darting around wildly through the dark to see who was there.

Zach's face flashed before my eyes, and I prayed for it to be him. Or Lizzie. Or Jonas.

Or _someone _here to help me. Because as much as the spy pride inside of me hated to admit it, I didn't think I could do this on my own.

But it wasn't Zach. Nor was it Mrs. Goode.

It was Grant.

Grant and Bex, the bones in their faces a little too angular and bruises and cuts running down their bodies. But they were alive, and on their feet.

Determination glinted in there eyes, and Bex smiled crookedly.

"Given up so soon, love?"

**So sorry for the wait, guys! ]: **

**This story is going to be ending soon. D:**

**I seriously really do appreciate all of your reviews that you guys have given me, it inspires me and makes my day.[: **

**Quote for this chapter: Trying to forget someone you loved is like trying to remember someone you've never met. **


	15. I Surrendered

_Grant and Bex, the bones in their faces a little too angular and bruises and cuts running down their bodies. But they were alive, and on their feet._

_Determination glinted in there eyes, and Bex smiled crookedly._

_"Given up so soon, love?"_

**Zach's POV**

"_Damn it_!" Zach screamed, fisting his hands into his hair. He paced back and forth almost violently, spinning on his heel and slapping the wooden floorboards with the bottom of his shoes.

Liz and Jonas sat slumped over their laptops, fingers slipping over the keys hysterically.

"We _just had _it, where the _hell _did it go? How did it slip away from us?" Jonas shouted to his computer screen.

Liz just shook her head furiously, typing faster. Macey was on the phone with Tristan, already in her spy gear. Black skinny jeans with black boots, a skin-tight black long-sleeved shirt tucked into the jeans, a black belt. Daggers were tucked into her belt, and she had twisted her dark hair up into a ponytail. Rings adorned her fingers, and for some reason Zach didn't think they were _just _for accessorizing.

Macey slapped the phone shut and nodded to the bathroom with her chin. "Zach, everything's ready in there for you. Hurry up and get changed, we're leaving the minute Liz and Jonas get Cammie's location again. Tristan's on his way."

Zach just shrugged and walked to the bathroom. He could feel Macey glancing at him worriedly. A week together and he already had a brotherly affection for Liz and Macey. Liz, who could barely walk down the stairs without tripping, whom he was extremely glad wasn't a field agent. And Macey, who had so many walls up, bossing people around and pretending to be cold and beautiful, when underneath she was just as scared and broken down as the rest of them over losing their best friends to the Circle.

He slammed the bathroom door shut with his foot and placed a hand on either side of the sink, leaning forward and staring at himself in the mirror. Even he could see the changes in his physical appearance. His cheekbones too angular, the skin on his face stretched over his bones as if there were barely enough there to cover it. Stubble lined his jaw, and his deep green eyes were dead. His hair was rumpled and messy due to him continuously fisting his hands in it, and his lips were raw from his gnawing.

He slipped on the completely black outfit, stuffing Napotine patches into his pocket, knives into his belt, and a couple of poison tipped daggers into his boot. He splashed his face with cold water.

_We will get her back. We'll get her back if it's the last thing we do. _

Which, in this circumstance, it might very well be.

He stepped out from the bathroom and saw that Tristan had arrived, dressed in an outfit identical to his. Their jeans were looser and their shirts short-sleeved, but other than that, Macey and Liz would be wearing the same exact thing.

As ridiculous as they may look to anyone else, wearing any baggy or unnecessary clothing could be the cause between life and death. Most female agents had short-cropped hair, those who didn't always had to put their hair tightly up in a fight.

Macey and Tristan were sparring, and Zach went over to Liz and Jonas to see how they were doing. Cammie's face kept pushing her way into his mind, her flawless smile, her clear-blue eyes...

Zach shook his head, but immediately following Cammie was Grant. Grant, who had been his best friend for as long as he could remember. And that girl – Bex – who was Cammie's best friend.

Zach took a deep breath and leaned over Jonas's laptop. "How are you doing?"

"How do you _think _we're doing?" Jonas snapped through clenched jaws. Zach raised his eyebrows. Jonas hardly ever got angry, and if he did he rarely showed it.

"Sorry, man," Zach retreated.

Jonas looked embarrassed now, but he never let his eyes wander from the glowing screen. "No, I'm sorry. I'm just a little...tired."

"Liz?" Macey's voice rang out from the kitchen.

"Yea?"

"I think this had gone on long enough. It's time to call Mr. Solomon."

**Cammie's POV**

"Bex? Grant!" I whispered. "How did you-? I – what?"

I squinted at them, confusion leaking into my brain.

"Oh, god damn it. I haven't had food in so long I'm hallucinating. Go away, shoo," I waved my hands out at them. Grant chuckled, and Bex rolled her eyes.

"We're actually here, Cam. We're gonna get you out of her, we promise."

I just stared at her.

"Is it really you?" I asked, my voice small.

Bex smiled gently and pulled me into a hug. "I can feel your ribs," she said over my shoulder. "Eat more."

"I would if I could, Bex. Trust me," I muttered.

"We have to get going," Grant said. Shouts erupted from outside the door, and we all jumped. My heart was beating painfully against my ribs, but I stood, chin up, cool and collected, as a spy should be. It didn't matter if our stomachs were so empty that it was eating itself – it didn't matter if our heads were pounding so hard we could barely hear our companions speaking – you had to pretend that you were fine, and pretend that you were strong.

Because sometimes, you are what you pretend to be.

"Get down," I hissed, pulling on both of their arms and behind a crate.

"Have they found her? Is the door still closed?" Mrs. Goode's annoyed voice rang through the dark room, and we heard a Circle member walk quickly towards my room's door. I blew out a sigh of relief when I remembered closing it.

"Yes, the door is still closed, Ma'am."

"Damn it! Where are those _prats_?"

Despite the situation, I stifled a laugh. Mrs. Goode still thought that everybody was still in the base, coming to save her.

Well – two of them had.

I looked at Bex and Grant. Grant had a hand placed protectively at the small of her back, both of them were staring sharply out over the crates, eyes flickering around in the darkness.

"Let's get going, then," Grant nodded his head towards the door. Bex grabbed one of my hands.

"Are you strong enough to run, Cams?" Bex asked, steadying me on my feet.

I gritted my teeth. A surge of adrenaline pumped through my veins, and I nodded. "I can do this."

Bex grinned wickedly. "Then what the hell are we waiting for? It's time to go home."

I stuck my head out of the door, seeing nobody down the hall. Grant placed something in my hand. It was a small by heavy stone. Confusion wracked my body until I saw a camera. I nodded, and with a swift flick of my wrist, I shot the stone straight at the camera and cracked the screen – enough so it couldn't see us, but lightly enough so that it wouldn't break, alerting the guards.

"Let's go," Grant said.

We sprinted down the hall, the lights above us flickering ominously. Cramps twisted up my empty stomach, but I ignored it and sprinted harder. With each turn we took, I saw each of the cameras were cracked.

So _that _was how they got in. I shook my head a little and smiled. Suddenly, I turned a sharp corner and ran right into someone. I gasped quickly, but then ended up gasping so sharply that it brought on a round of coughing.

I coughed violently into my hand, and felt something warm and sticky fly from my throat and onto my palm. Whoever I ran into was holding me up gently.

I looked up, confused why their soft, warm hands were so steady around my body.

"Cammie?" Zach's warm breath tickled my ear, and I let out a disbelieving sob.

I repeated his name over and over, like a chant. I threw my arms around his neck, not even caring that the blood on my hand smeared the back of his black shirt, turning it even darker and sticking it to his skin. He rubbed my back and ran his fingers through my knotted hair soothingly.

"It's okay, Cammie. You're safe."

"_You're _safe. I was so worried that -" A hiccup wracked my body, and I hugged him tighter, inhaling his scent and nuzzling my face into his neck. He kissed the top of my head gently.

"Alright, people. Love-fest over. Chop-chop, we're standing in the middle of a terrorist organization base. Let's move!" Macey's voice broke through our bubble, and I looked up.

"Mace!"

I didn't care that we were in danger of being caught – I was so hungry and dizzy and tired and happy to see everybody I loved again that I flung my arms around her neck, relieved to smell her familiar perfume again.

She hugged me back quickly, but then pulled away.

"Celebrations _after _we escape the terrorists. Let's go."

I nodded. I felt Zach come up and grab my hand, and I squeezed it. He squeezed back.

"Heads up," a tall man about our age with tan skin and blue eyes tossed me a coms unit. I quickly pushed it into my ear, and heard Liz and male voice giving directions. Momentarily confused by the new additions to our team, I quirked an eyebrow at Zach.

He just shrugged and mouthed, 'I'll explain later.'

"So go right – and there's still three camera you guys didn't have time to smash down that hallway. Grant, get the one diagonally to the left. Bex, the one directly up. Zach, the one near the floor to the right." Liz commanded.

"Got it," we all said in unison.

We all ran down the hall, Zach and Macey leading me with a hand clasped in each of mine so I didn't stumble. I hated being the weak link out of the group, but today I had no choice. The fatigue and hunger still gnawed away at my body, and it was getting harder and harder to fight off the dizziness. When we stopped for a moment for them to crush the cameras, I fell to my knees, shaking, and heaved up more blood.

"_Cammie_," Bex whispered.

"I'm fine," I said weakly, trying to stand up but stumbling.

Macey rolled her eyes. "Leave it to Cam to say she's fine after she vomited up enough blood to feed a vampire for a week."

Zach came over and scooped me up in his arms.

"I can _walk_," I protested. My voice was raspy, and my vision wasn't clearing.

"No, Cammie, you can't. Now shut your eyes and try not to vomit blood up on my shirt," Zach growled.

I glared at him. He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on my lips.

"Please," he murmured. "We're all worried about you."

So I shut my eyes and finally, _finally _gave in to my hunger and weakness. I let everything take my body over – my love for my friends, me missing my mom and Mr. Solomon, my despair over my father, my curiosity at the new members to our team, the gnawing hunger in my stomach, the pulsing in my head, the shaking of my limbs.

I let the darkness take over, and I finally let go of my strength and felt myself do something I haven't done in my life.

I surrendered.


	16. True Love Will Triumph

_"Please," he murmured. "We're all worried about you."_

_So I shut my eyes and finally, finally gave in to my hunger and weakness. I let everything take my body over – my love for my friends, me missing my mom and Mr. Solomon, my despair over my father, my curiosity at the new members to our team, the gnawing hunger in my stomach, the pulsing in my head, the shaking of my limbs._

_I let the darkness take over, and I finally let go of my strength and felt myself do something I haven't done in my life._

_I surrendered._

**Zach's POV**

Growing limp in my arms, Cammie's breathing evened out. All of us were sweating from the physical exertion, and the scent of salt surrounded us. Grant motioned with a large, calloused hand to follow him. We tried to walk as quietly and casually as we could while still getting out quickly. Exhaustion burned through my lungs and my hair obstructed my vision. I impatiently whipped my head to the right, clutching Cammie even tighter to my chest.

I just got her back. And there's no chance I'm letting her go again. Liz had already taken out her phone and was pressing it hard against her ear, murmuring to who I guess was Mr. Solomon and Ms. Morgan. Suddenly, an alarm sounded and I jumped. Cammie whimpered in her sleep.

Blaring at an annoyingly high pitch, it echoed down halls, drowning out our shouts. Footsteps sounded behind us, and the _click _of guns being loaded automatically made our feet move. Practically flying down the corridors, we threw open every room, checking for a window or a way out. More orders and shouts erupted behind us, and Macey glanced behind us.

"_Get down_!" she shouted.

We all dropped to the floor as a flurry of bullets streamed above us, right where our heads just were. Rolling my body on top of Cammie's, I raised my head and assessed the scene in front of us. No windows, flickering flat lights on the ceiling, ear-splitting crashes. Liz screamed. Jonas pulled her closer to him and ducked his head, saying something to her.

"Shit, run! Get up, run!" Tristan ordered, pulling Macey and Jonas up with both hands, practically lifting them off the floor. Metal clanked against my chest, and I took the gun out of my jacket and held it in my right hand, murmuring a quiet apology to Cammie and then swinging her over my shoulder like a potato sack. I kept her head in front of me, so if they got a bullet near us, it would hit her legs. I saw Bex reach for hers, too.  
>"I thought we said these were for emergencies only!" Grant protested, swerving out of the way of an open door.<p>

"We're running from terrorists. If this isn't an emergency then what the hell is?" Bex answered, breathless.

"Ms. Morgan said that-" Liz's voice cracked off and she had to break off and get more air into her lungs. "That she and Mr. Solomon would be here with back-up soon. So we just need to get Cammie out safe."

Then a heavy weight crashed into my body and sent me flying. A panicked grunt came from my mouth and I immediately twisted Cammie's body around so that she landed on top of me. Rolling her to the side once we were safe on the floor, I kicked up into my attacker's groin. Swinging around their body, I elbowed and sent a punch at their head.

A shriek flew through the air and it took all of my training to not whip around and help them. My attacker picked up their gun, but before they could even position it in their hand, I roundhouse kicked it from their palm and smacked him into a wall. He pushed my back and we fell to the floor, and he repeatedly was kneeing my in the stomach. Blood filled my mouth and I struggled for control, flipping us over and spitting the crimson liquid in his face. He shouted and his hands flew up to his eyes, but I wrapped my hand around his face and cracked his head down on the ground, sending him to unconsciousness.

I made eye contact with Macey and she nodded.

"Go. Take her and go."

I sprinted over to Cammie's body and scooped her back up into my arms. Her skin was alarmingly pale and her breathing shallow.  
>"Cammie, just hold on a little more. We're getting you out soon, and we'll get you help," I cried desperately. Fear clawed at my heart at the thought of her not making it, and I quickly shoved it away. Seeing a forming bruise on her cheek, I bristled at the thought of anyone trying to touch her while she was so vulnerable.<p>

"Liz, Jonas! Go with him," Grant bellowed. "We can handle this."

We sprinted from the building, and I finally, _finally _saw the alley, which was the back entrance to this building. We burst from the door and were immediately surrounded by armored adults. My defense went up and I backed up, holding Cammie to me and glaring.

"Zach, it's okay. It's me," Mr. Solomon came up and took off his helmet, patting me on the shoulder. "Get Cammie to the helicopter, _now_. We'll send Bex and the rest out, and as soon as they step in, shut the door and fly back to Gallagher. That is an order, Mr. Goode. Do it now."

I nodded once and made my way to the helicopter, one of two, against the current of CIA backup, whom were all loading guns and slipping on their bulletproof vests and murmuring low into their walkie talkies strapped to their shoulder. Stepping into the cool helicopter, Jonas and Liz immediately took control of the command center. Ms. Morgan was slipping on her vest, and she locked eyes with me.

"Is she alright?" her tone wasn't motherly – she was in agent mode. Eyes flashing as she discarded her earrings and bracelet, strapping guns and knives into her belt.

"I think she'll be okay once we get her medical attention," I said curtly. Setting her down on the floor of the helicopter, I pulled out a first aid kit from under one of the chairs and cracked it open.

Setting to work, I heard Grant, Bex, Tristan and Macey thundering out and into the helicopter. Sliding the door shut, Liz took control of the gears and started lifting us up.

Heavy pants filled the small, cramped air in the helicopter and we all dropped our guns and extra clothing.

"How is she?"

I just shrugged.

I realized my hands were shaking.

I clenched them into fists and Bex took the medicine and wrappings from my hands, and I bent my head down to rest on Cammie's too-flat stomach and chewed the insides of my cheeks out.

And maybe, just maybe, the trembling in my shoulders were caused by the tears I cried for the girl I love.

**Time skip, one month later**

**Cammie's POV**

Soft, everything was so soft and so warm and so comfortable. I wrapped myself further into my sheets, the familiar scents surrounding me. I remember the day I got released from the hospital, good as new, and Zach flinging me into the air and kissing me. A smiled pulled at my lips and I sighed contently. I heard a low chuckle and my smile immediately turned down into a frown.

"No, don't stop," a voice muttered. Long fingers came and smoothed out the crinkles in-between my eyebrows and near my mouth.

I moaned and brought my hand up to his, twining our fingers together and keeping my eyes closed. He leaned in and kissed my forehead, smoothing back my hair with his other hand.

"How are you feeling?" Zach asked.

I grunted in response. He chuckled. "That isn't answering my question, Cameron."

I scowled. "I'm feeling fine, Zachary."

"Your mom and Mr. Solomon dispatched yesterday evening. Members of the Circle are being brought in as we speak for questioning and containment."

I opened my eyes and nodded, a solemn look crossing over my face.

Zach's face turned serious as he placed a warm hand over my cheek. "You almost died, you know."

I nodded again.

"I cried, you know."

I bit my lip and pinched my eyebrows together.

"I'm so sorry," my voice cracked. Zach looked down and a look of sheer sadness enveloped his features. Pulling me closer, I felt his fingers grasp desperately at my back.

"Never do that again," he said. And for the first time ever, Zachary Goode's voice shook around me. I brought a hand up to his head and kissed his neck.

"I won't."

"You don't know that."

"I know."

"Making promises we can't keep, Gallagher Girl?"

"True love will triumph in the end – which may or may not be a lie, but if it is a lie, then it is the most beautiful lie we have." I quoted.

And that was my wedding vow to Zachary Goode.

Do you ever get to know which one of us dies first, how we die, if we're there when they die?

No.

I don't get to know, either.

But that's the thrill of life. You don't know what the future brings – let it be horrible things, beautiful things, or mediocre things.

But let's just say for Zach and I?

The future brought us two adorable little boys who looked just like me, and a beautiful little girl who looks just like Zach.

It also brought on more missions. And more terrorist organizations.

But like I said – true love will always triumph in the end.

**THIS IS IT, GUYS!**

**This is it! This was the last chapter to this story. [':**

**I want to cry right now. **

**Thank you to every single one of you, thank you so so so much. I couldn't have finished this story without you, and I'm so glad that you guys stuck with me through my irregular updating and everything.**

**So thank you so much. I hope you liked Captured, and I'll see you on my other stories? [: **


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